


Strayville

by Kokoskwark



Category: ITZY (Band), Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: (they establish pretty soon), Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brainwashing, Dialogue Heavy, Established Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Established Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, ITZY are (paranoid?) theorists, Jisung cries a lot, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Mystery, Paranoia, Pining, Swearing, but the angst isn't in the relationship its bc of outside factors (if that makes sense), i was struggling whether to put seungjin or chansung as first ship, interesting distraction techniques, mostly narration but also some chatting, or are they the heroes?, seungjin and chansung are both very important, seungjin trying to be detectives, they all love each other, they kind of suffer but they all suffer together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokoskwark/pseuds/Kokoskwark
Summary: Changbin, Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix, Seungmin and Jeongin visit their hometown, Strayville, every summer to see their friends Minho and Chan, who still live there. A few years ago, a new company, JYP labs, established there and Chan went to work there.This year, now everyone has finished their studies, things get weird. There was a mysterious explosion last summer, Minho tells them Chan has been acting off lately, but also other townspeople are acting weird… There are multiple theories as to what is happening, the main one being that JYP labs is hiding something. Hyunjin and Seungmin are convinced by one of the theorists to join the investigation when Chan begins to act even weirder. What is going on?
Relationships: Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin
Comments: 124
Kudos: 33





	1. Welcome to Strayville

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I'm back with another chaptered fic with my go-to pairings lol, this one is more Chansung, though!  
> This fic was loosely inspired by the The Sims 4 game pack Strangerville, which people say is inspired by Stranger Things, but I have never seen that show, so idk!  
> Also, I'm no expert on how some things I describe in this work actually work (like hacking, law, federal stuff etc.) so I hope it's not too bad!  
> English isn't my first language so I apologize for mistakes, and enjoy reading! I'll update every other day!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone stopped what they were doing and eyed Minho, he seemed serious, which was unusual. It made the rest nervous. 
> 
> "What is it?" 
> 
> "Ugh, I hate talking behind people's back, but— Chan has been acting weird lately."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introduction!

**Strayville 8**

**number han :** bin hurry up!!

**spearbinnie :** sorry im almost there!!

**soondoongdorino :** is he late again?

 **soondoongdorino :** if you miss the bus ill leave u for my cats

**spearbinnie :** im sprinting!!

**jeongpin :** lol

**hyun.e :** thx for speeding him up minho

**soondoongdorino :** no prob ;)

 **soondoongdorino :** c u guys in like

 **soondoongdorino :** a few hrs

* * *

“There you are, you slowpoke!” Changbin’s friends called when he came running, bags clumsily rolling over the campus pavement and swinging on his shoulder.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Changbin panted as he reached his friends. “You know how I am.”

“And I thought you would at least have yourself together for _Minho_.” Hyunjin teased. 

“Well, then you clearly _don’t_ know how he is.” Jeongin shot back with a smile and Seungmin nodded in agreement. “It apparently doesn’t matter that he does this more often than we do.”

They were right. No matter how many times Changbin prepared to visit his hometown, Strayville (yes, weird name, he knows), to see his boyfriend and friend, Minho and Chan, he would always stay clumsy and slow, underestimating the time he needed to get ready. Even when he was visiting the younger friends he did that. 

Changbin lived alone somewhere in between the big city and their hometown, doing freelance songwriting for a living as a startup after he finished his studies. Since his friends, Seungmin, Jeongin, Hyunjin, Jisung and Felix, had just graduated from college, they had lived in dorms and could only rarely visit their hometown, only in summer. So they did exactly that, they stayed in their hometown every summer. It wasn’t like Strayville was all that interesting, not at all, it was a small town in the middle of nowhere, but they grew up together there, with the eight of them, and they couldn’t just leave Minho and Chan alone there. 

The only exciting thing that had happened there in years was that three years ago a scientific lab called ‘JYP labs’ had established there, and a few weeks after last summer there was, like, an explosion or something there. That lab was there to do some research Changbin understood nothing of, something to do with the ground there and relatively clean air or something. Anyway, after Chan had finished his studies he was offered a job there, so he moved back to Strayville. Minho stayed there to help run his family’s cat cafe, the second most interesting thing in the village. 

“Well, let’s go before we miss our train, yeah?”

  
  


It was quite the trip from the campus to Strayville, so it wasn’t exaggerated when they say their hometown is in the middle of nowhere. Changbin lived more nearby, but he always liked to pick the rest up despite _him_ being the slowpoke. They took a train and then a bus that drove, like, only once per hour, but it was worth it if it meant being together with your friends (and sometimes when Changbin would visit alone, Minho came to pick him up with his parents car, which helped). 

They caught up with each other and joked around as always, since they only used their group chat really for updates from Minho and Chan, which were few because not much happened, and random stuff.

"So, Jisung, is _this_ going to be the year that you confess to Chan?" Hyunjin asked after a while, he was leaning his head on Seungmin's shoulder. 

"Here we go again…" Jeongin muttered. 

"Well— maybe, uhm, if he's not, like, busy with work again. You can't really plan such things." Jisung stuttered, cheeks turning red. "And _you're_ the one to talk." He shot back, eyeing the two sitting in front of him. 

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." Hyunjin said, trying to hide his embarrassment. Changbin saw Seungmin pressing his lips together in a line too. "Anyway, last year your excuse was that you couldn't see him often, but now we've graduated." 

"As I said, you can't plan it." Jisung shrugged. "We'll see if I get an opportunity. And what about you? You've had plenty of opportunities." 

"A-again, don't know what you're talking about." Hyunjin protested, lifting his head off Seungmin's shoulder. "But you know all my reasons." 

"And you know mine." 

The two were squinting at each other, and Seungmin seemed to be trying to figure out what they were talking about. Changbin knew Jisung and Hyunjin were just trying to help each other be confident and make a move, but he understood that Hyunjin didn't want to talk about it in front of Seungmin. He also understood the apprehension of confessing to your dear friend, Changbin had gone through that same thing. It was scary because the thought of making your friend uncomfortable or possibly ruining the friendship because you didn't know for sure that the feelings were returned was enough to not do anything. Because if you were already good friends, why change anything? Is what Changbin always thought.

He had been very lucky that Minho had taken initiative and had begun blatantly flirting with him. At first Changbin had thought it was just a joke, but at one point last year Minho had had enough and confessed because he was done waiting for an indirect answer. It all had gone a bit rusty because they were both bad at voicing their feelings, but in the end everything worked out. He hoped his relationship with Minho would show the others that things didn't necessarily have to go wrong. 

"Ugh, guys, Changbin is pulling that face again." Jeongin pulled a face himself. "Were you thinking about Minho again?" 

Changbin almost choked on his spit, but quickly regained himself. "Uhm— well, about how we're the example of how confessing to your friend isn't that scary, and things will be fine." 

"Says the one who _didn't_ confess." Seungmin countered. 

"Yeah, and like things went that well with you two." Hyunjin joined in. 

"And you actually returned the feelings." Jisung said. 

"But can't you do _better_ than Changbin?" Jeongin challenged. _At least he's defending me._

"And things are great now with them!" Felix helped like the angel he was. "Oh! We're arriving at the station. Let's hurry to catch the bus!" 

With that, the conversation ended and they hurried out of the train to make sure things between Changbin and Minho _stayed_ great. 

**Strayville 8**

**jeongpin :** congratz minho

**number han :** you wont have to break up w bin! 

**soondoongdorino :** i knew u wouldnt disappoint me

 **soondoongdorino :** bc im not waiting for u w dinner

**flixie pixie :** is channie already done w work btw? 

**soondoongdorino :** no he always has long days

 **soondoongdorino :** but i think hell come 2 the shop when hes done

**number han :** u think? 

**soondoongdorino :** im pretty sure 

**soondoongdorino :** u know im not good at communicating 

**daengmin :** well hes in this gc so if he didnt know we were coming today

 **daengmin :** he knows now

**soondoongdorino :** xactly 

**soondoongdorino :** now ill resume making dinner so buhbye

**spearbinnie :** c u in a few! 

**flixie pixie :** ! 

* * *

The moment the bus arrived at their stop, Jisung began running with all his bags, and the rest let out a groan, but quickly followed in prospect of seeing Minho again. Minho was already waiting in front of the cafe with a big smile on his face, giving his friends the energy to sprint the last bit, throw their bags aside and tackle Minho into a hug. 

"Whoah." Minho laughed and stumbled back due to the force of six people hugging him. "Were you that eager to graduate and come back to this boring— well… not that boring anymore, but still relatively boring town? Or were you just excited for my cooking?" 

They snickered at Minho's joke, which he made every year, but before anyone could answer, the barista pulled Changbin closer for a kiss, whispering ‘Hi, Bin.’, and making his boyfriend blush. They hadn't done that much in front of their friends before. 

"Uhm, can you do that later? I'm hungry." Jeongin complained. "And for you two it hasn't been _that_ long." 

"Long enough." Minho shrugged as he led the rest inside to his apartment, where the table was already ready for dinner. "I still don't get your tradition of not dumping your bags first. Do you _want_ my apartment to be overcrowded?" 

"We just want to see you as soon as possible! And else Changbin has an advantage because he always stays with you the first night." Jisung explained like it made full sense. 

"And else we'll walk in on gross stuff." 

" _Or_ we'd give them time to greet each other first." 

"Thank you, Felix, but I like seeing everyone as soon as possible." Minho smiled and sat down after motioning the rest to start eating. "Because there's, uhm, actually something I wanted to discuss." 

Everyone stopped what they were doing and eyed Minho, he seemed serious, which was unusual. It made the rest nervous. 

"What is it?" 

"Ugh, I hate talking behind people's back, but— Chan has been acting weird lately." Minho began. "At first I thought it was just that he had been busy with work, maybe that weird explosion gave them extra work, but he only began acting weirder over time— I don't know, more nervous, cold and distant or something. The rest of the town is acting strange too, but that could partly be because of the conspiracy theorists. Chan could be because of that too." 

_Chan is acting weird?_ Well, there went about all of Jisung's hopes of confessing, it being replaced by worry. 

"Well, it's no new thing that Yeji and her gang are making up theories about JYP labs, but do you have any suspicions as to why Chan is acting weird?" Seungmin asked. 

"No, not really. He said it was work and being questioned a lot lately, but he doesn't want to talk to me about it. I hoped maybe he would talk to one of you?" 

"Have you fought recently?" Hyunjin now asked. 

"Only a little when he already didn't want to talk to me." Minho answered. "He said I didn't do anything wrong and it was this work thing he couldn't quite figure out and I wouldn't understand it because it was too sciency, but I don't really believe him, I think there's more to it."

"Do you think the theories might be right? That JYP labs isn't what they say they are? Are there any new theories?" Felix suggested, nervously fidgeting with his cutlery. 

"They think the explosion released, like, illegal chemicals or something and they are now trying to cover things up. Not that any news ever leaves this town." The barista shrugged. "They also say it's the cause of the problems with the water and plumbing lately. But when they confronted the lab about it, they denied their involvement but said they would help with providing for plumbers. Yeji and her squad doubt them _and_ the plumbers, though, so they're offering their own plumbing services. They've done research and all, I heard Chaeryeong learned how to fix plumbing."

"Damn, they must really be bored here." Seungmin snorted, but Jisung saw he wasn't completely at ease, which Jisung understood. He didn't really know what to believe yet, he had to see and hear more to judge properly. 

"Maybe there's some truth in it?" Hyunjin tried. "I mean, they're not dumb—" 

They were interrupted by a few of their phones buzzing. _Chan?_

**Strayville 8**

**chanistree :** ofc i knew u were coming today! 

**chanistree :** im done w work now so ill come over too

_Those seem like normal texts. Is Minho just overreacting— no, Minho doesn't overreact._

"Okay, let's not, like, corner him with questions or something please, there could be nothing." Minho said, although the rest knew he wouldn't have told them if Chan wasn't really acting weird. Still, they all nodded and resumed their dinner until the doorbell rang. 

Minho quickly let their friend in and they greeted Chan with a big hug as well, which Chan returned with the same vigor, but when Jisung took a look at his face, he saw a little frown, and his stomach dropped. 

"Ahh, I missed you guys." Chan sighed, his frown disappearing. "And again, congratulations on your graduation, guys. Do you already know what you want to do now? Looking for jobs already?" 

They looked at each other for a second, exchanging looks of slight surprise. Besides the frown, nothing seemed weird yet. 

"Yeah, looking around a bit, but also taking a little break." Felix nodded. "I kinda want to relax for a few weeks." 

"As you know I'm preparing to maybe form a duo with Bin with songwriting, and maybe we’ll write something for Seungmin!" Jisung said. "Wait— you're not trying to get us to join JYP labs, right?" 

"Of course not!" Chan laughed a bit awkwardly. "You're free to do whatever you want to, I was just curious." 

"I think the conclusion is that we're looking, but not _too_ hard, yet." 

Chan nodded and Jisung noticed he was eyeing the food with hungry eyes. _Ah, he probably didn't eat yet either._

"Oh! Chan I prepared food for you too, in case you came." Minho rushed to the kitchen. "I'll just have to heat it up a bit!" 

"Thank you!" Chan called back and motioned everyone to sit down again. "You can continue eating, I don't mind, you must be hungry." 

They smiled and did as he said, and Jisung felt himself relax a little. _Maybe it really was just some work assignment or something._

"So, how's work going?" Seungmin asked when Minho came back to bring Chan's food. "Do you always have long days?" 

"Oh. It's going fine." Chan smiled, but Jisung saw that something had changed in his aura. "Sometimes the days are long, yes, but we get enough breaks in between. We can't really use our phones because of some chemicals, and it's work, so of course it tires you out, but things are fine." 

"If things aren't, you can always join us in our quest to become renown song writers." Changbin half-joked, but Jisung too would love that, however selfish that wish was. 

"Ah, as much as that sounds fun, I'm doing fine in JYP labs. Got a promotion a month ago as you heard, so yeah." The oldest looked a tiny bit pale, maybe they should let him eat. "Anyway, enough about me and this boring town. Any good stories to tell?"

  
  


They talked about everything and nothing, and Chan seemed relatively normal besides seeming a bit tired, so Jisung hoped that it were just the theories that had gotten to Minho's head, or that Chan had resolved whatever the problem was. 

"Oh, right! Before you came, we were talking about how there are conspiracy theories about JYP labs and that explosion. Do you know what happened?" Jeongin asked after a while. "Like, it seems like some people are getting more and more paranoid." 

"Oh." Chan's face fell. "Yeah, I know. I've got Yuna and Yeji asking me questions every single day, but I work in a lab. An explosion isn't that much of a surprise or worth making a big deal out of, it's been months. And I don't know what exactly happened, because I'm not in the department where it happened, but they said they got it under control."

"That makes sense." Felix nodded. "And the thing with the plumbing?" 

"I honestly don't know, guys, I'm not a plumber, but if your house has problems, I can help you contact the plumbers. There's also flyers all around the town, uhm, including a couple to contact the theorists. I don't know how good they are at plumbing or if they just want to 'investigate' to kill their time." Chan seemed to not believe the theories, obviously, and however nice the theorists were, Jisung was inclined to believe Chan. Besides, he _works_ there, so he should know, right? 

"Anyway, it's super nice to see you again, and I'd love to hang out for longer, but I'm kind of tired, and you guys aren't going anywhere soon, right?" Chan said and stood up, stretching himself a little. 

"Nah, everything is way too far from boring ass Strayville." Hyunjin stretched himself as well. "I think I'll be heading home as well." 

The rest except for Changbin agreed with that, hugged everyone goodbye, grabbed their stuff, and left for home. 

  
  


"Hey, you want some help with your bags?" Chan offered when they got outside. "Your house is my way anyway." 

"Thanks. My arms hurt from running with them." Jisung chuckled. 

"Of course you ran." Chan laughed as he took one of the bags. 

"You know how I am. And I really missed you and Minho." Jisung smiled and contemplated being a little forward. _That's how Minho did things, right?_ "Uhm, especially you—" 

"CHAN STOP RIGHT THERE!" A girl yelled from somewhere, and Jisung turned around to see Chaeryeong and Yuna running at them. 

" _What_ is in the water?!" Chaeryeong pointed a threatening finger at Chan. "Don't dodge."

"Wh— what?" Chan stuttered. "How should I know?" 

"Yeji sacrificed herself and drank the contaminated water and now she's acting weird, so now we're _sure_ the water is the source of people acting like zombies or something." Yuna almost spat at Chan. "Sorry Jisung, we're glad you guys are back and stuff, but this is serious. Chan, own up!" She was wearing platform shoes and she was making herself big, so she almost towered over Chan. 

"Wow there, why are we cornering Chan?" Jisung tried to make Yuna step back a little, but Chan stopped him, whispering 'it's okay' before speaking up himself. 

"I'm sorry that Yeji is sick, but I'm afraid that I can't help." He said with an apologetic look. "I'm not a doctor, and I don't know why you think I have something to do with the water being contaminated, but maybe you also shouldn't drink it on purpose. I can help you contact some plumbers—" 

"Don't give me that crap! We don't want your corrupt plumbers." Chaeryeong cut in. "Maybe _you_ didn't contaminate the water, but JYP labs did, so you're complicit." 

"I really don't know what you're talking about. Why would we contaminate the water?— and we've been over this, we're just providing funding for the plumbers, not hiring or corrupting them." Chan sighed. "I can try to examine the water to find out what's in it, but I really think Yeji just needs a doctor. I don't know if I can help even if I know what's in the water." 

"You know what? You're actually being helpful for the first time. Yes, examine the water for us please, I'll bring samples later tonight." Chaeryeong had an unreadable expression. "Maybe as a bonus you could ask your superiors about it." 

"Uhm, we'll see what I can do." Chan politely smiled, but the girls scowled at him. 

"Thanks." Yuna deadpanned. "Oh, and the doctors in this shitty town are _a_ , too incompetent to see what's going on, and _b_ , they're already too busy trying to treat the other victims of your lab, so maybe JYP labs can provide funding for them too." 

"Exactly." Chaeryeong agreed. "But let’s go now, get the samples and fix the plumbing _ourselves._ " 

They turned around and walked away again, leaving a flabbergasted Jisung behind. _Damn, they're really serious about this now, it used to be a joke._

"Sorry about that." Chan apologized. "They usually only come to me after and/or before work." 

"It's not your fault!" Jisung immediately countered. "I think they're taking it a bit too far, this is bordering harassment— if it isn't already that." 

"Well, I get that they're worried for the people in our town and they want someone to blame, so they choose the people they don't get." Chan shrugged. "It's too bad that they're taking it this far, though, but I’ll try to see if I can help." 

"You're too nice Channie." Jisung gave him as much as a side hug as he could manage with his bag and the fact that they were walking. "Ah, we're at my house. Thanks for walking me and helping with my bags." He dropped his stuff and pulled Chan into a real hug now. 

"No problem, Sungie. Anytime." 

Jisung contemplated giving a little kiss on the cheek before letting go, as a replacement for what he wanted to say before being interrupted by Chaeryeong and Yuna. In a surge of confidence he decided _yes_ and quickly pressed his lips to the other's cheek, making Chan yelp softly. 

"Bye Channie. Good luck with Chaeryeong later!" He quickly said to distract from his burning cheeks. Luckily it was pretty dark already. 

"T-thanks. Bye bye." Chan stuttered but gave him a bashful smile before leaving. _Maybe he liked it?_ Jisung thought and went inside with a big smile of his own. 

* * *

"Do you want me to help clean up?" Changbin asked when everyone had left. 

"Hmm? Oh, no I've got it. You can relax after your day of traveling." Minho smiled, grateful that Changbin offered. Changbin's toothy smile as he shrugged and flopped himself on the couch already made Minho happy enough. 

When he finished cleaning up, he sagged down next to Changbin, draping himself over the other and taking him in his arms, enjoying the feeling of his soft skin. He let out a content sigh when Changbin relaxed against him too, and he pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

They laid in comfortable silence for a while before Minho noticed the younger eyeing him a few times. It looked like he wanted to say something serious. 

"What's up?" 

Changbin hesitated for a moment, lightly chewing on his lip before he spoke. "So, about Chan…" He trailed off. 

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Minho asked, looking up at him. "I mean, I'm glad he didn't act unusual tonight, but— I don't know, you should've seen him, like, a week ago." 

"No, I don't think you're crazy!" Changbin sat up straight, making Minho do the same. "For once." He added with an unsure chuckle, but Minho couldn't help but snort. "But I know— we all know that you wouldn't have told us if it wasn't true. Maybe the theories made you think it was more serious than it was? Maybe Ryujin visits your cafe too often." 

Minho chuckled a bit, feeling better than before. "Yeah, maybe. She's constantly telling me that the lab, and thus Chan too, is hiding something and that they’re the cause of people acting strange, so maybe it was just that." 

"We'll see, better safe than sorry, though. It doesn't hurt keeping an extra eye on Chan, even if it's just so that he doesn't overwork himself." Changbin said and lightly caressed the older's cheek before kissing him. "Good job, Min." 

Minho smiled, feeling reassured and loved. “I think that means I deserve a treat.” He said and leaned in again to capture his boyfriend’s lips. It was always nice to kiss Changbin again after weeks of not seeing him, and the first night was always reserved for them catching up, both in terms of how it went in their lives as in giving affection. Talking about people in town acting strange could wait, Minho decided as he deepened the kiss, it wasn’t that urgent. Right now it was time for the two of them, and the two of them only.


	2. The blurry line between friendship and something else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, Seungmin if you want to know what Hyunjin thinks, really say something for once! Because apparently always letting Hyunjin do whatever he wanted and telling him he never bothers him wasn't clear enough. "Uhm, did you plan?— want?— think it was an option for this to be a date?" He went the coward way and laid the responsibilities with Hyunjin again. 
> 
> The older hesitated for a moment. "Uhm… It crossed my mind, yeah, but I get it if you hate the idea—" 
> 
> "I don't." Seungmin blurted out. Okay, I just said that, he thought, but Hyunjin basically said he didn't mind it, right? Else he would say something about how that was funny or gross and not begin about him, right? The chances looked good for once, so Seungmin just thought he'd go for it. He took a deep breath, took Hyunjin's hands in his, and looked into his pretty eyes for a moment before he spoke. "To be honest, I thought about it too, and I—" 
> 
> "YOU TWO!" A yell and the door slamming open startled them out of their moment. Seungmin looked back to see a seething Lia stomp at them. "If you care about our town, spill everything you know, now." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seungmin and Hyunjin go on a kind-of-date and are confronted by the theorists! Is Chan really hiding something or are the theorists delusional?

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**hyun.e :** heya minnie

**daengmin :** hey

**hyun.e :** im bored do you wanna go to the cafe w me

 **hyun.e :** even tho we r both dog ppl

**daengmin :** sure! 

**daengmin :** no one else available? 

**hyun.e :** youre the first i ask ;) 

**daengmin :** okay

 **daengmin :** so youll be asking others too? 

**daengmin :** no wait youre asking priv n not in the gc

**hyun.e :** damn r u part of the conspiracy theorists now ;) 

**hyun.e :** nah just felt like hanging out w you

**daengmin :** sorry

 **daengmin :** ofc thats a valid reason 

**daengmin :** ill see you there then! 

**hyun.e :** see you in a few! 

* * *

Seungmin was fidgeting with his hands as he walked to the cafe. He was looking forward to hanging out with Hyunjin after a few days, but he was kind of overthinking things maybe. Was Hyunjin asking him on a date? Kind of? Or was that just wishful thinking? 

Seungmin had been trying to get Hyunjin to notice his crush, which maybe had already developed into a little more, for a while now. Apparently he was really bad at it, though, because Hyunjin seemed to think Seungmin was just being really nice to him, while Seungmin thought he was kind of obviously showing his soft spot and special behavior towards the taller boy. 

But the texts from just now hinted that Hyunjin might have noticed something now? Although Seungmin hadn't done anything special lately. Maybe Hyunjin really just wanted to hang out—

"Oof." Seungmin bumped into someone suddenly. "Sorry! I wasn't paying attention…" He trailed off, seeing a dazed expression on the person in front of him. 

"Wasn't paying attention…" The guy repeated dully before sauntering past Seungmin. "Wasn't paying attention…" 

_Okay, what the hell?_ He vaguely knew the guy (he knew everyone in the town), and he wouldn't have expected him to be… high? drunk? this time in the afternoon. Seungmin shrugged it off, Minho said people had been acting strange lately, but that had always been the case in a town with little to no contact with the outside world, people needing some action to get rid of their boredom. He guessed that after the explosion at the lab and the escalating theories, some people had really snapped. 

When he entered the cafe, he saw Hyunjin already sitting at a table, chatting with Changbin. They happily waved at him and Seungmin waved back after greeting a few cats. 

"Hey, Minnie." Hyunjin smiled, radiating his usual warmth, as Seungmin sat down across from him.

"Hey, Seungminnie!" Changbin greeted him too. "Uhm, shall I take your order? Minho will get mad if I chat with customers too much, because I promised him I'd help out." He scratched his neck with an awkward laugh. 

"I'll take an americano." 

"Uhm, me too." Seungmin wasn't really thinking about what he wanted to drink, distracted by the fact that they were sitting at a table for two. They always sat at booths in case other friends joined them and because there was always enough room, but he guessed they never met here with just the two of them. Did that mean it was a date? _Probably not, don't get your hopes up._

"So, did you notice people acting strange too?" Hyunjin pulled Seungmin out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed Changbin leaving. "And I saw, like, an 'awareness protest' or something yesterday from Chaeryeong, Lia, Ryujin and Yuna. They were showing off Yeji acting weird too. Didn't Jisung say she drank the contaminated water?" 

"Uhm, yeah." _Nice answer._ Seungmin shook his head a bit to get back to reality. "Yeah, I saw— what's his name?— Brian acting strange too. It looked like he was high or something." 

"Weird yeah. Do you think it's the water?" Hyunjin leaned forward a little, resting his head on his hand, and Seungmin suddenly felt warmer. 

"Could be, could also be a flu going around or something. It's at least a bad idea to drink contaminated water, so be careful." 

"Hmm." The taller hummed in agreement. "I get if you're not paying attention you might accidentally drink it." 

Seungmin nodded, barely paying attention again. He was just contently staring at Hyunjin's pretty face. Okay, maybe he had kind of fallen deep. 

"Seungmin, Hyunjin! I have your— whoah!— I have your orders!" Changbin announced, almost falling over three different cats on his way. "I made it!" 

"I can't believe Minho is letting you help." Hyunjin snickered. "Well, it _would_ be really funny if you tripped." 

Changbin pouted and huffed. "I think that's exactly the reason he lets me help. But anyway— I'll leave you two now, before Minho kills me. Have fun on your date!" He skipped away and almost accidentally stepped on a tail, after which Minho, who had just appeared from the kitchen, shot him an angry look. 

Changbin's frantic apologizing didn't even register for Seungmin, the blood rushing in his ears being the prominent sound. _Our date?_ He looked at Hyunjin to see he was blushing as well, nervously looking around. 

"Date..?" Seungmin managed to ask. 

"Ah— yeah— Changbin is probably just joking." Hyunjin awkwardly laughed. 

"Oh, yeah of course." Seungmin nodded, trying to hide his disappointment, but he couldn't help but wonder why Changbin said it. It kind of looked like a date, so maybe that, maybe he knew Seungmin's feelings, that was also a possibility. 

"But, uhm, it kind of looks a bit like one, huh?" 

Had Hyunjin spoken any softer, Seungmin wouldn't have heard it, but he did. _What is he trying to say? Or is he just stating something?_

"It does, huh?" He chuckled lightly. _Okay, Seungmin if you want to know what Hyunjin thinks, really say something for once!_ Because apparently always letting Hyunjin do whatever he wanted and telling him he never bothers him wasn't clear enough. "Uhm, did you plan?— want?— think it was an option for this to be a date?" He went the coward way and laid the responsibilities with Hyunjin again. 

The older hesitated for a moment. "Uhm… It crossed my mind, yeah, but I get it if you _hate_ the idea—" 

"I don't." Seungmin blurted out. _Okay, I just said that,_ he thought, but Hyunjin basically said he didn't mind it, right? Else he would say something about how that was funny or gross and not begin about _him_ , right? The chances looked good for once, so Seungmin just thought he'd go for it. He took a deep breath, took Hyunjin's hands in his, and looked into his pretty eyes for a moment before he spoke. "To be honest, I thought about it too, and I—" 

"YOU TWO!" A yell and the door slamming open startled them out of their moment. Seungmin looked back to see a seething Lia stomp at them. "If you care about our town, spill everything you know, _now._ " 

"Huh?" Hyunjin looked very confused. Seungmin felt the same. 

Lia slammed her hand on the table, making them flinch, she could be very intimidating. "What is JYP labs hiding?! Hyunjin, you saw Yeji yesterday, right? _No one_ has any idea how to help them, and more people are getting infected or something. So _spill it_." 

"We don't know anything!" Seungmin defended. "How should we? Just because we're Chan's friends? Didn't Chan help analyze the water?" 

"That's the point. He did, but we looked up the compounds and they don't make sense. They're mostly harmless, maybe cause a little nausea or headache, but those aren't the symptoms." She intensely explained. "At first we thought Chan maybe wasn't in on the loop— but he didn’t do anything to question the lab, so he's still not _good_ — but after we questioned him about the compounds he started flat out ignoring us, even blocking our numbers! He's _obviously_ hiding something."

_What? Is he?_ Seungmin shared a look with Hyunjin before turning to Lia. _Maybe we should question her, I'm not going to call my friend a traitor without strong evidence._

"Maybe he's just tired of constantly being questioned every single day and no one believing what he says." He retorted. "And maybe those _are_ the compounds in the water, he's the expert, and there is a disease going around? It could be a coincidence that Yeji got it after drinking water, but also that that lowered her immune system." 

In the corner of his eye he saw Hyunjin nod, supporting Seungmin's reasoning. Lia sighed, though. 

"Of course you say that." She rolled her eyes and turned more serious. "Look, I'm not saying that Chan is actively supporting JYP labs in their secret business, hell, he could've only found out after trying to analyze the water, but he's still not defying them now. We think he might have been brainwashed so we need your help."

_She really_ _believes all this, huh?_ Seungmin thought. 

"We want to help, but you haven't really provided convincing evidence and we aren't doctors and we aren't going to question Chan out of nowhere, we already asked him what he knew a few days ago, and he really didn't seem to know any more than he said, and Chan can't really lie well." He explained, he didn't want to fight with Lia, she and the other theorists were their friends too. 

"That was a few days ago. Ask him again, tell him I forced you if that makes you feel better. But okay, you want evidence? People who hire the corrupt plumbers have more infections than people who hire us and believe our theories. JYP labs has a shady ass website, look it up, they don't have any other establishments, they barely post research papers and, like, no one knows them. The only people who post are employees and, like, fake accounts." Lia took a deep breath, taking in Hyunjin and Seungmin's expressions, before continuing. "Yeah, we've done and still do our research. Also, you two know Chan, he wouldn't _just_ ignore us, especially not when we need him. He didn't even give us a warning that we were crossing the line, he just started to ignore us one day. So, convinced or not?" 

Seungmin and Hyunjin shared another look, and Hyunjin signaled Seungmin to talk again, apparently he trusted they would think the same. 

"It's good that you do your research, yeah, and I admit that the situation in this town is weird. We'll ask Chan about it, I guess, keep our eyes and ears open. Thanks for warning us, Lia." Seungmin said and he meant what he said. Lia made some good points so it was probably worth investigating further. It wasn't like they had anything else to do. 

"Yeah, thanks Lia." Hyunjin smiled. "Tell Yeji we wish her to get well soon!" 

"I will. Thank you guys so much for being willing to help! Ask us anything if you need help or want to know what we got, we also have a website with our theories, link on the flyers, and keep us posted!" Lia said, fire in her eyes. "Bye guys! Bye Minho and Changbin too!" 

Seungmin looked at the counter and saw the two boyfriends trying to hide that they were listening. Once Lia was out, a few people, including Minho and Changbin, rushed over to them, asking questions. Hyunjin seemed to be a little overwhelmed and not knowing what to say, and Seungmin didn't either, so he grabbed Hyunjin's hand and stood up. 

"Please come up with your own thoughts and theories on the matter, or check the flyers or something. And remember, there's no groundbreaking evidence for both sides so please don't assume anything is absolutely true and don't harass others." He said before he quickly fumbled some money out of his wallet to pay for the drinks and dragged Hyunjin out of the cafe. 

"Wait! Now you paid for everything!" Hyunjin exclaimed when they got outside. 

"It were two americanos, I'll survive Jinnie." He breathed, amused by the fact that _that_ was what Hyunjin was worried about. "But you barely said anything in there, why? What do you think?" 

"Oh, I didn't say anything because you're way better at that, and you said exactly what I was thinking— well, I wasn't fast enough with thinking, but I agree with everything you said." Hyunjin explained, squeezing the hand he was still holding. "You really handled it well." 

"Thanks." Seungmin felt himself blush for some reason, and he remembered what they were talking about before Lia barged in. "Uhm—" 

"So we'll try to talk to Chan?" The older unintentionally cut in. "Us two or the rest too?" 

"Oh, uhm, we'll throw it in the group chat?" Seungmin suggested. 

Hyunjin nodded and swung back and forth their arms a little. They were just walking through town, the sun was shining but it wasn’t too warm because there was a light breeze, and Seungmin wouldn't have things any other way. He opened his mouth to say something again, but again Hyunjin began first. 

"Well, that was kind of a failure of a date while it wasn't really a date, huh?" Hyunjin chuckled. "Although, walking like this is nice. Don't know why we're doing it, but it's nice." 

Seungmin smiled back widely. "I agree." He said and looked at Hyunjin shining in the sunlight, looking gorgeous. He really couldn't get enough of looking at him, being with him, talking to him, because however beautiful Hyunjin was on the outside, he was even prettier on the inside. Seungmin let out a love-induced sigh. "But I also wouldn't mind having a redo of the date which wasn't really a date? Do it properly?" 

"Really?" Hyunjin looked back with a hopeful look. 

"Yes. I like you a lot, Jinnie, really." Seungmin smiled and stopped walking for a moment to take in Hyunjin's reaction. _I think he feels the same._

"Really?" Hyunjin repeated with an even more hopeful look. It was kind of adorable. 

"Yes!" Seungmin couldn't help but chuckle, although he also felt himself blush. "Really. I've had feelings for you for quite a while." 

Hyunjin's surprised look morphed into a bashful but embarrassed one. "Me too. I like you so much, Minnie." He smiled, scrunching up his beautiful eyes with his puffy cheeks. 

Seungmin got lost in Hyunjin's sincere eyes and somehow it all felt familiar. He guessed they both kind of knew about each other's feelings, even if it was unconsciously, and that they were already kind of walking on the blurry line between friendship and something else. 

After a moment they both giggled and resumed their walk to wherever they were headed, feeling warm not only because of the weather. 

* * *

**Strayville 8**

**daengmin :** minho do u know when chan works

 **daengmin :** or when hes free

**jeongpin :**?? 

**soondoongdorino :** uhh i think on wendsdays n sundays hes like semifree

**spearbinnie :** is this abt what happened in the cafe

**flixie pixie :** is everything okay? 

**hyun.e :** yeah lia came by

 **hyun.e :** she said some things n we wanted to talk to channie abt it

**number han :** oh gosh r they still harassing chan? 

**daengmin :** uhm maybe 

**daengmin :** but she also said some valid things which might make ppl rlly believe them

 **daengmin :** not abt chan but abt the lab

**hyun.e :** they rlly did their research 

**flixie pixie :** so u think JYP labs isnt who they say they r? 

**daengmin :** could be

 **daengmin :** what we do know for sure is that evryone should b careful w their water bc u might get sick if its contaminated 

**jeongpin :** is that y there r like zombies around town? 

**flixie pixie :** its like an apocalyptic movie

**soondoongdorino :** lets not jump to any conclusions yet and talk w chan first? 

**number han :** good plan

**chanistree :** hi

 **chanistree :** did lia bother u guys

**hyun.e :** nah minnie handled it well

**daengmin :** when n with who do you wanna talk?

**chanistree :** not today

 **chanistree :** and im kind of tired of constantly trying to convince ppl

**daengmin :** we can help you with that if you explain how things are maybe?

**number han :** maybe we can all hang out and then maybe talk?

 **number han :** make it more fun?

**flixie pixie :** good plan!

**chanistree :** yeah that sounds fine

 **chanistree :** tomorrow i have a few things to do so

 **chanistree :** shall we do ‘wendsday’ then?

**soondoongdori :** :/

 **soondoongdori :** sure

**spearbinnie :** yeah

**daengmin :** sure

**flixie pixie :** fun!

**number han :** yes

**hyun.e :** sure

**jeongpin :** sure

**number han :** hey channie?

**chanistree :** whatsup 

**number han :** are you resting enough?

**chanistree :** yeah why

**number han :** just bc you r working so much

 **number han :** n you dont seem particularly excited for wednesday

**flixie pixie :** :/

**chanistree :** oh no its just long days 

**chanistree :** but we have enough breaks!

 **chanistree :** n i cant really go out during them bc we sometimes work in sterilised spaces n stuff

 **chanistree :** n as i said

 **chanistree :** im a bit tired of explaining n defending myself

**soondoongdori :** understandable :/

**number han :** but we believe you channie!

**spearbinnie :** well defend you too

**daengmin :** we just need to know the things to use in the defense

**chanistree :** what did lia exactly say?

 **chanistree :** maybe i can ask my superiors

**hyun.e :** it was a lot

**daengmin :** that you were ignoring them, but we totally get that

 **daengmin :** that JYP labs has a shady website

 **daengmin :** n no one knows them

 **daengmin :** that the compounds you analyzed dont make sense?

 **daengmin :** n their usual stuff about the corrupt plumbers and water

**chanistree :** okay thx

**number han :** do you want some distraction from work n stuff tomorrow?

**flixie pixie :** good plan!

**number han :** or are you really busy?

**chanistree :** i could use some distraction yeah

 **chanistree :** just turn my brain off haha

**jeongpin :** i said i would go out w my fam tomorrow so i cant

**spearbinnie :** me too

**flixie pixie :** chaeryeong comes 2 my house tomorrow bc of the plumbing 

**hyun.e :** you hired them?

**flixie pixie :** they kinda ambushed me n i didnt want to say no :/

**chanistree :** if you have problems you can always get the other plumbers

 **chanistree :** if you explain yourself maybe they can give a discount?

**flixie pixie :** thx!

**soondoongdori :** i have to help in the cafe tomorrow

 **soondoongdori :** but i can get someone else for wendsday

**hyun.e :** what time n what r we doing?

**chanistree :** after dinner?

**number han :** we could watch some nobrain movies?

**chanistree :** or we could also attempt to make dinner together?

**jeongpin :** good luck

**number han :** if you dont mind it if we screw up 

**flixie pixie :** i can mayb help over text!

**number han :** altho you r the chemist n we r w 4

**chanistree :** yes ill analyze every single molecule in the food

 **chanistree :** no but its fine n thx felix!

 **chanistree :** itll be fun

**number han :** okay!

**chanistree :** i think?

**number han :** cant back out now

 **number han :** jinnie n minnie what do u think?

**daengmin :** sorry im not rlly feeling it but have fun w/out me!

**hyun.e :** oops i forgot i had other things planned

 **hyun.e :** sorry!

**soondoongdori :**??

**number han :** we can change plans seungmin

**daengmin :** no need! 

**jeongpin :** r u okay

**daengmin :** yes! im constantly thinking abt what lia said n i dont think i can distract chan so

 **daengmin :** n im not rlly a nobrain movie person so its fine

**chanistree :** so its just me n sungie?

 **chanistree :** do u still want to then?

**number han :** ofc! i suggested it

 **number han :** do you have food at home 4 cooking? else ill do the shopping

**chanistree :** wow you r being surprisingly willing to go out!

**number han :** :/

**jeongpin :** nice one

**number han :** i was planning on bringing someone along

 **number han :** felix when do the plumbers come?

**flixie pixie :** around 2 pm!

 **flixie pixie :** so before that i can join u

**chanistree :** kidding ;)

 **chanistree :** that would be amazing if you could do that

**number han :** i will go certain lengths for my bros

**chanistree :** i know sungie

 **chanistree :** thanks this convo already cheered me up a bit :)

**number han :** thats what im here for!!!

**soondoongdori :** ALL of us!

**spearbinnie :** we r all very good at talking nonsense to cheer ppl up

**jeongpin :** yes!

**chanistree :** i know :)

**daengmin :** but were also good listeners n can help if somethings bothering you

**hyun.e :** especially seungmin!

**chanistree :** yes thats sometimes hard for me but thx

 **chanistree :** nyway ill see you tomorrow then sungie

 **chanistree :** n the rest wednesday or b4 or smthing

**number han :** yes see you then!

**daengmin + hyun.e**

**daengmin :** i dont think ill be able to distract chan tho

 **daengmin :** so idk if ill go

**hyun.e :** oh yeah idk either

**daengmin :** i was planning on doing some more research before wednesday but you can go if you want 

**daengmin :** i just thought that i probably will only think abt what lia said

**hyun.e :** oh ye mayb me 2

 **hyun.e :** n leaving jisung alone w chan sounds good

 **hyun.e :** n im actually rlly curious so can i help w research?

**daengmin :** oh theyre asking for us

**hyun.e :** oh ye

 **hyun.e :** but youre okay w me joining?

**daengmin :** ofc!

 **daengmin :** we’ll have another perspective on things

 **daengmin :** n we can combine our skills n stuff

 **daengmin :** n its more fun

**hyun.e :** yay

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm.... what do you guys think?


	3. Maybe he was a little whipped, maybe a lot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dinner they quickly cleaned up and jumped on the couch, getting in a cozy position to watch the movie. Chan enveloped Jisung in his arms as they put on some no-brainer movie. It was kind of bad, but in a funny way so it was fine, and else Jisung could just focus on the warmth of Chan's arms around him. 
> 
> The older was laughing at all the corny jokes in the movie, so Jisung thought he'd make his own jokes on top of those, making Chan laugh even harder until he was wheezing. Jisung looked to the side to enjoy the sight of Chan laughing and smiled. Maybe he was kind of getting distracted from the movie by Chan's beautiful side profile. Maybe he was a little whipped, maybe a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part 1 of this day! Jisung's perspective!

"So, what do you and Channie want to eat for dinner?" Felix asked, putting a few snacks in their cart. 

"Uhm, what's easy but still good?" Jisung pondered. Chan had not been helpful when Jisung asked what he wanted to eat, saying he didn't really care and Jisung could choose, but when Jisung protested, Chan had already arrived at work and couldn’t answer anymore. 

"There are lots of easy meals to make!" The younger said, already getting excited. "Even healthy and yummy ones! We're doing shopping for tonight so you can get some pre-cut vegetables that are still fresh— Oh! I can also lend you some spices to make your own makeshift sauce, or you can buy one…" 

Jisung snickered at Felix's enthusiastic rambling and nodded along, giving his own input once in a while, sharing what he thought would be easy and what he and Chan would like and would be able to do. 

After spending way too long in the local supermarket, they _finally_ headed to Jisung's home to store the food until he would go to Chan. Then they just hung out on the front porch and talked about everything and nothing. 

"Felix?" Jisung asked after a while. The thing with Chan, the theories and the lab was kind of bugging him and he wanted to get it out so he could distract Chan properly later. 

Felix hummed and looked at him curiously. "Yeah?" 

"What do you think about all the theories and stuff?" 

"Oh." Felix looked up and leaned back on his hands. "Hmmm. Don't really know. It's weird that people are getting sick and no one knows what it is, although _thankfully_ it's not lethal, and it could be from the water? But if it has anything to do with JYP labs or the explosion or the plumbers is hard to say. And I'm not really smart enough and educated enough to judge, I think. And I'm inclined to believe Chan."

Jisung nodded, that was a very sensible answer. "Yeah. And do you think the theorists are going too far? Making too big of a deal out of things?" 

The freckled boy shrugged. "There's no harm in doing research and being extra careful, uhm, as long as they're not harming anyone, haha, but they _should_ tone down the Chan-interrogations I think. I'll ask Chaeryeong later." 

"Oh yes definitely!" Jisung agreed eagerly. "I can't believe they've gone so far that Chan's ignoring them, I didn't really expect that from them." 

"Same! They must really think the lab is hiding something then… I'll ask that too." Felix said. "And else we'll hear it Wednesday. Now you must clear your head from conspiracy theories and entertain Chan!" He jumped up and dusted off his shorts, giving him a thumbs up. "If there's anyone who can make Channie laugh, it's you!" 

"Ah…" Jisung chuckled and looked away in embarrassment. "I hope so." 

"Definitely." Felix offered a dazzling smile. "Anyway, I have to go now. It was fun hanging out with you, Sungie!" 

"Bye! Good luck with Chaeryeong." They gave each other a big fat hug before Felix went back home. 

Jisung plopped himself down on the porch again and sighed. _What to do now?_ He still had quite some time until he would meet up with Chan. He could just laze around like he usually would do, but he had done that enough these past few days. He thought about it for a moment and decided he would visit the cafe, take his mind off things with Minho and drink some iced americano. 

On his way there he saw Hyunjin walk somewhere, but before he could greet him, he already turned a corner. He was heading to where Seungmin lived? _But he said he had plans today, right? Well, he didn’t say what and when, so maybe he’s just visiting Seungmin. Or he’s just taking a walk._

Jisung shrugged it off and entered the cafe. He was immediately greeted by a few cats so he crouched to pet them. 

“Hey there cuties, don’t leave too much fur on me, okay? I don’t want to be all sniffy when I go to Chan tonight.” He said, but couldn’t help coo at the cute animals. Despite his allergies he loved coming here. 

“Han Jisung! You’re really going to test your allergies before you go to Chan?” Minho called from behind the counter with a grin. “Well, I get that you just wanted to see me really bad.”

Jisung rolled his eyes with a snicker and headed over to lean on the counter. “I thought you might be lonely without Binnie helping you.”

“Oh no, things are going smoother when he’s _not_ here.” The barista laughed. “But they’re also less fun.”

“Has he tripped over lots of cats?” Jisung chuckled at the thought.

“Only one! He’s getting better.” Minho grinned as he picked up a cat to hug it. “Anyway, do you want your usual order? Iced americano and cheesecake with a free ‘Minho’s company’ included?”

“That would be great.” The younger nodded and climbed over the counter to accompany Minho in making his order like he often did when he came here alone. 

“So, are you planning on distracting Chan in any other ways than trying to cook and watch no-brain movies?" Minho asked as he prepared Jisung's drink. 

"Uhm— no, I wasn't planning to." Jisung stuttered, shyly rubbing his neck. "Tonight is for Chan, not for me." 

"Who says Chan wouldn't like it?" Minho raised an eyebrow at him. "You might be able to distract him _very_ well, I know that always works for Binnie—" 

"Minho!" Jisung exclaimed, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Okay that's it, I'm taking my drink and grabbing a slice of cheesecake, bye." He hurried away to sit somewhere, still close to the counter so they could still talk and he could threaten to sit somewhere else in case Minho would be gross again. 

Luckily Minho toned it down and they just joked around whenever Minho didn't have any customers to serve. Before he knew it, it was almost time to meet with Chan. 

"Oh, I think Chan will be done with work soon." Minho said, looking at the clock. "Maybe you can pick him up from work? The lab isn't that far from here." 

"Genius!" Jisung jumped up and grabbed his wallet to pay. "Here you go." 

"Thanks. Good luck with Chan! Don't let things get too wild." The older winked with a grin. 

Jisung sputtered a goodbye and almost ran home to get the food and ingredients before he would pick Chan up. He had been to the lab a few times, and although it had been a while, it was hard to get lost in this town. That, and the building was pretty hard to miss. It was tall and in a better shape than the surrounding buildings, and it had a big fence surrounding it. 

Jisung waited outside that fence for Chan to come out. Once he saw the older, who was talking with a few coworkers, Jisung excitedly waved at him. Chan turned his head at him and looked… scared or surprised? Jisung couldn't see it that well from a distance. Chan stopped walking and finished his conversation with his back turned to Jisung before hurrying to him. 

"Hey Jisung, what are you doing here?" He asked and quickly looked back at his coworkers before he motioned them to start walking. 

"Uhm, I was kind of bored so I thought I'd pick you up from work?" It came out more of a question than he intended, but Jisung was a little confused about what Chan meant. _Did he forget we would hang out?_

"Oh— of course, yeah." Chan breathed. He seemed a bit fidgety and uneasy. 

"Everything okay? Hard day at work?" Jisung lightly placed a hand on the other's arm. 

"Yeah, uhm, we talked about the conspiracy theories and stuff, uhm, they weren't too happy that people are questioning me." Chan explained and Jisung felt his stomach drop. _Man it must really suck to have his job and to constantly be questioned by people who don’t get it_ and then _have your employers be mad about it too._

Jisung pulled him into a quick hug as he internally cursed the world for being cruel to such a sweet man, which made Chan chuckle and shake his head. He gave a smile, although it seemed a tiny bit forced. "But that's not important right now! For the rest of the day, my work doesn't exist, and thus the theories don't exist." 

Jisung made an exaggerated confused face. "I have _no_ idea what you are talking about.” He chuckled. “Anyway— I went shopping with Felix, and I hope you don't mind following a recipe, because he was _enthusiastic._ " 

Chan snickered at that, which eased Jisung’s worries a bit. “Typical Felix, but now we’re saved, I think.”

“Oh, definitely.” Jisung agreed. “Although, I think you would’ve saved me without Felix too.”

“Ahh… I don’t know…” The older scratched his neck, ears getting a little red, and Jisung almost let out a sigh of relief seeing this all too familiar Chan back. He had missed him so much, just like Minho, but Minho he could visit every day now if he wanted. Chan still had to work a lot and when he didn’t, he was usually tired or Jisung _thought_ he would be tired so he didn’t ask to hang out. 

“Yes, you would have.” Jisung said simply, linked their arms and skipped to Chan’s house, dragging his friend along. 

When they arrived, Jisung quickly put the food in the fridge and immediately attacked Chan with a big hug, making him stumble back until they hit the couch and fell down on it. 

"Whoah!" Chan laughed as he hesitantly returned the hug. "Where's this coming from?" 

"I missed you, Channie!" Jisung rubbed his head in the crook of the other's neck, before pulling back a little to look at him and grin widely. "And I thought it might relieve some stress." 

"Definitely." The older smiled and hugged him again with just as much force as Jisung did, if not more. "I missed you too, Sungie." He whispered, and Jisung’s heart skipped a beat.

They laid on the couch for a while, curled up and holding each other tightly, and Jisung relaxed fully, feeling warm and comfortable. Chan had always felt like a safe space for Jisung, always there for him in every way possible. 

He wouldn't mind hugging for another hour or two, and he hoped Chan felt the same. 

"Jisung…" Chan began after a while. _Oh, did I cross the line?_ "I'd love to hug for longer, but I'm also kind of hungry." 

Jisung snorted. Of course Chan was getting hungry, they had already bought more food than usual to account for Chan's big appetite. "Of course." He slowly let go of the older and stood up. "Well, we have plenty of food, but first we have to prepare it." 

"Ugh, that's right… But! I'll probably be distracted once we start cooking— although, the smells…" Chan's face went through a roller-coaster of emotions and it made Jisung crack up. 

"Eat something light before we start so you don't, like, die of distraction by hunger?" He shrugged and dragged the other to the kitchen. He also grabbed his phone to get the recipe Felix had sent. "I sent the recipe to you too, by the way. Oh, and Felix says that Chaeryeong— he says that he can help if we have questions." _Shit, I almost brought up the plumbing and conspiracy theorists._

"Ah, great! I'll open the recipe on my phone too." Chan said as he got a little snack from his fridge. He didn't seem to have noticed Jisung's slip up, fortunately. 

They put on some music and began the challenge to cook a decent meal. Jisung knew that Chan wasn't bad at cooking, in fact he was pretty decent, but with Felix's super detailed recipe things would definitely go well. It was surprisingly a lot of fun to cook this way, usually Jisung was too lazy to cook, but together with Chan and some tunes to give him extra energy it was way better than Jisung had expected. They laughed so much that they almost forgot that they were trying to make a meal for themselves. 

It happened often when they were together, Jisung being so focused on trying to make Chan laugh that he forgot about the rest he was doing, because Chan laughing and smiling was just his favorite sight in the world. It also usually caused Chan to laugh so much that he couldn’t do anything else, rendering them both useless. Sometimes it was also the other way around, though. Sometimes Chan would catch Jisung off guard with a really funny joke or a sudden tickle attack, so maybe he wanted to hear Jisung's laugh and see his smile just as much as the other way around. 

  
  


After a while they were finally done with making their dinner, and surprisingly it didn't go as bad as Jisung would expect when their vision was constantly blurred by tears formed by laughter which also made them more clumsy. 

"Let's hope it's at least decent." Chan chuckled before taking a bite of their dinner. "Oh? It's pretty good!" 

Jisung took a bite as well and let out a muffled sound. "Mmm! It's good! Maybe we should cook with impaired vision and muscle control more often." 

Chan almost spat out his food laughing and quickly covered his mouth. "I don't think that's a good idea." 

Jisung shrugged as if he didn't understand it and continued eating. He saw Chan was eagerly stuffing himself with the food even more than Jisung was, maybe they had underestimated the time it would take to cook— well, even if they didn't, they wouldn't have started earlier because they had been too busy cuddling. Jisung smiled at the recent memory. He himself had also completely forgotten about all the fuss and theories surrounding Chan and his work, because his mind was filled with fond thoughts about his friend. 

When Jisung's gaze found Chan, he saw him already looking back with a fond smile only Chan could pull off. Jisung felt himself blush at the love that was shining in the other's eyes, even though he knew Chan just possessed an infinite amount of love for his friends. Suddenly Chan chuckled a little, leaving Jisung confused.

“Wh-what?” Jisung muttered, not fully having swallowed but storing the food in his cheeks.

Chan shook his head a little, still smiling widely, showing off his pretty dimples. “It’s just… I forgot how you always stuff your cheeks with food— well, I didn’t really forget, I just haven’t seen it in a while and I’m reminded of how cute it is.” 

“Oh.” Gosh, could he say that with a less fond look? It made Jisung feel too damn warm, so he averted his gaze to somewhere else, anywhere else but Chan, to try to shake away all the selfish thoughts that came rushing to him. “You are cuter, though.” He retorted to take the attention away from him and tease Chan a little (although he meant what he said). 

Now it was Chan’s turn to become red and look at his food, mission accomplished. Teasing the older was just as fun as teasing Changbin because they both would get so flustered it was funny. Jisung took pride in his ability to fluster his friends, although it sometimes came back to bite him when he was being serious for once. 

Jisung just snickered a bit at Chan’s flusteredness and continued eating with a smile when he saw Chan had a little smile on his face as well. 

After dinner they quickly cleaned up and jumped on the couch, getting in a cozy position to watch the movie. Chan enveloped Jisung in his arms as they put on some no-brainer movie. It was kind of bad, but in a funny way so it was fine, and else Jisung could just focus on the warmth of Chan's arms around him. 

The older was laughing at all the corny jokes in the movie, so Jisung thought he'd make his own jokes on top of those, making Chan laugh even harder until he was wheezing. Jisung looked to the side to enjoy the sight of Chan laughing and smiled. Maybe he was kind of getting distracted from the movie by Chan's beautiful side profile. Maybe he was a little whipped, maybe a lot. 

As the laughter died down, Chan noticed the younger was staring, so he looked too, and gosh there was so little space between them. Chan quickly looked away again when he noticed the proximity, his ears burning a fiery red. Maybe Jisung should look away too, but maybe he didn't want to. When Chan eyed him a few times and repositioned himself against Jisung, he was pulled out of his trance and turned his head away again, his cheeks being as red as Chan’s. He hoped he hadn’t overstepped any boundaries, but Chan didn’t say anything, so that seemed good. 

It took a while before Jisung could focus on the movie again, thoughts again dominated by his friend. He wanted to tell Chan about his feelings, but he was here to let him relax, not bother him with a confession— is what he first thought. Now he was thinking he might be able to do it? Chan had not shown any signs of being uncomfortable, only of being embarrassed. In fact, Chan had only snuggled closer to him, leaning his head on his shoulder, after Jisung was staring. 

_Maybe after the movie I'll tell him,_ he thought and looked sideways again, and saw Chan had fallen asleep on his shoulder. _Cute… he must've been tired from work, huh?_ Jisung smiled to himself and softly stroked a hand over the other's arm. 

  
  


The movie ended with both of them barely having processed or even having watched the end, but Jisung didn't mind. He was perfectly content having Chan sleep on his shoulder, lazily having his arms slung around his waist. Jisung was staring into space, getting a bit tired himself too, when he heard Chan's phone ring. He reached to get it and saw a contact name he didn't recognize. _Should I pick up? Is it someone from work?_

Jisung really disliked making phone calls with strangers, and he didn't know what he would even say if he picked up, so he let it ring. Chan hadn't told him he was expecting a phone call, so it wouldn't be important, right? It could wait. 

After a few minutes, Chan's phone rang again. Same caller. _Hmmm…_

"Chan? Channie?" Jisung tried to wake the older up. "Chan, someone's calling you. Should I pick up?" 

Chan groaned softly and slowly blinked his eyes open. 

"Channie— quick what do I do??" Jisung urged and looked at the phone. "Do you want to pick up??" 

Chan looked dumbfounded— _of course, he just woke up_ — but the call seemed urgent, so Jisung quickly picked up for Chan and put the phone to his own ear as he let the other wake up. 

"Hello?" It came out kind of hurried, but whatever. 

_"Who is this?"_ Jisung heard from the other side, it sounded a bit hostile. 

"Uhm, I'm a friend of Chan. He was taking a nap but he has just woken up, so he's almost available—" 

"Jisung, who's calling?" Chan asked. He seemed very awake now. 

"Uhm, it's Swang Heelchud." Jisung said and handed over the phone. 

"Shit—" The other softly cursed under his breath and took the phone. “Hey, Heelchud. Sorry, I was taking a nap indeed and I had a friend over as I told you— yes, that’s him…” Chan walked away a few steps towards the kitchen, and Jisung was glad his house was open plan, so he could still see and hear the boy a bit.

“No, that’s not… the opposite… relax and not think about work and stuff.” He heard Chan say while he looked over to Jisung, who quickly pretended not to be listening. He knew he shouldn’t be listening, but he couldn’t help but be curious, especially when Chan had seemed reluctant to answer.

“ _What?_ Huh— are you sure?... I don't think…"

"No. No, I’m not going to… I just said…” 

“No, I don’t think they… but I’m _not_ going to…” 

Chan didn’t seem very happy with what they were talking about, but he also didn’t seem to want Jisung to hear anything as he was shout-whispering.

“Can we talk about this later? As you know I have company over—” He stopped and sighed. “Again, no, okay? He… Don’t you _dare_ … quit _..._ ” Chan seemed to be angry, but once he stopped talking he suddenly got a bit paler. “Yes? Hi, sir, yes.”

“Yes, I understand. I will. Yes. Of course. Bye.” The older almost slammed his phone to end the call and Jisung quickly turned to look somewhere else. “Sorry for that.” Chan sighed as he plopped down on the couch again.

“Everything okay? You didn’t sound particularly happy.” Jisung frowned and turned to the other again.

“Oh yeah, just work stuff.” Chan shrugged his eyes looking empty as if he was thinking about something else. 

“Do you want to talk about it? You know, work shouldn’t be _this_ stressful—”

“I know. And it’s not— not really.” He gave a forced smile, he was obviously lying. _What happened?_

“Chan. I know I said we would pretend work doesn’t exist and stuff, but if something’s bothering you, maybe you should talk to someone?” Jisung tried looking at the other to get his point across. “Even if I probably can’t do anything to help, talking always helps. You always say that too.”

Chan bit his lip and looked everywhere but at Jisung. “Yeah, I know. But this is a— a work thing. Uhm, we did— we’re doing this project and they thought I screwed up, while— while _I_ don’t think I’ve screwed up, and they’re being kind of hostile about it and blaming others from my, uhm, group and making a big deal out of things. Uhm, we’re all kind of tired and overreacting.” 

“Oh.” Jisung just said. _That was the vaguest explanation ever._ Why was Chan being so nervous and fidgety? Was this what Minho meant with him acting weird? “Okay, uhm, that sucks.”

Chan snorted at that luckily. “That’s one way to describe things.”

“Yeah.” Jisung gave a hesitant smile. “Are you thinking about quitting? Because things are like this?”

“What?—” The older whipped his head to Jisung. “No, no. As I said, we’re all overreacting. Uhm, I think we’ll figure it out. I hope.”

Jisung wanted to protest, or say something, anything, because this was weird, but Chan beat him to it.

“Anyway— thank you so much for stopping by, Sungie. It was very fun, but, uhm, they reminded me I still have some work to do so, sorry for having to cut it a little shorter.” He gave an apologetic smile and stood up to grab the stuff Jisung had brought.

“Uhm… Yeah, it was fun.” Jisung stood up slowly. Chan seemed to want him gone. _Really, what happened?_ “Are you sure you’re okay? Can I—”

“Yes!— Yes, Sungie, I’m okay.” Chan stopped in front of him and looked at him with some kind of urgency. “Please— uhm, please don’t do stupid things for me, okay? I’ll try— I’m trying to fix things at work, but I have to do it on my own, okay? Do you trust me?”

“Of— of course I trust you Channie.” Jisung said as Chan continued to gently urge him towards the door. “But—” 

“Thank you, Sungie.” Chan breathed with a thankful smile. “Please know that I love you guys.” He paused for a second, looking at the ground and then right in Jisung’s eyes. “And I’m sorry.” He added and leaned forward and cupped Jisung’s cheeks to kiss him shortly but sweetly before he shut the door, leaving Jisung dumbfounded and frozen outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Cliffhanger...  
> Next chapter is Seungmin and Hyunjin's perspective!


	4. Partner both in detective work and in life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin chuckled and gasped. "Oh! Seungmin," He got up from the chair, kneeled in front of the other and grabbed his hand. "Will you be my partner both in detective work and in life?— uhm, as in boyfriends?" 
> 
> Seungmin snorted and slapped his free hand in front of his mouth, holding back laughter as he nodded, but Hyunjin saw his red cheeks. "Yes, of course. Gosh— you're a real romantic, huh?" 
> 
> "To bring some life to your boring house." Hyunjin teased and dodged a slap that had no power behind it. "I said house! Not you." 
> 
> "Better." Seungmin smiled and grabbed his hand again to pull him up as he stood up as well. "Well, partner, let's go do some investigating!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seungmin and Hyunjin do some investigating!

**daengmin + hyun.e**

**hyun.e :** hey im buying some snacks for today

 **hyun.e :** preferences?

**daengmin :** nah

**hyun.e :** okay then ill just buy your favs ;)

**daengmin :** why ask if you already know

**hyun.e :** mayb you wanted smth different

**daengmin :** well hurry up bc i mayb found smth

**hyun.e :** you already started?

**daengmin :** i couldnt help myself

 **daengmin :** ill show n tell you evrything tho

**hyun.e :** im omw!

* * *

Hyunjin hurried, but not too obviously. He would lie if he said he hadn’t checked the theorists' website with their evidence briefly yesterday and now he felt a little paranoid. It said that the lab’s people were _everywhere_ and they were _always_ watching, so he didn’t want to attract any attention. Once he turned a corner to an alleyway he started hurrying more until he reached an open space again and he repeated that to Seungmin’s house.

He looked around and saw a few people walking around, but he knew everyone so it didn’t seem like the lab-people had followed him— _jeez, Hyunjin, paranoid much?_

Before he could ring the doorbell, Seungmin already opened up and greeted him with an eager smile.

“There you are! Come in.” He grabbed Hyunjin by the hand and dragged him in and towards his laptop, but he suddenly stopped. “Sorry. Where are my manners? Hi, Hyunjin,” Seungmin quickly hugged him, but he understood his eagerness to get on with things. “Do you want anything to drink or something? Thank you for bringing snacks by the way.” 

Hyunjin snickered at Seungmin’s enthusiasm, but he was just as eager, if not more. “Uhm, drinks can wait. Show me what you’ve found— I’ve quickly scanned over the theory site yesterday but I’m curious what you found.”

“Ah, you couldn’t help it either?” Seungmin laughed and grabbed an extra seat so they could sit together in front of the laptop. They sat down and Hyunjin saw Seungmin had about fifteen tabs opened, all in incognito mode. 

“It’s a lot of jumping to conclusions and assumptions combined with blurry pictures and screenshots, but there are some interesting things hidden in there too.” Seungmin explained as he scrolled through the site. “Here— JYP labs came here three years ago, right? They bought one of the abandoned buildings here and turned it into their workspace— but that’s not what’s important. Look— their social media accounts were all made around the same time, which isn’t weird, but what _is_ weird is that every account having mentioned it outside of the townspeople are accounts which were either made around the same time or later! And if they were made earlier, they don’t have any significant activity from _before_ JYP labs got here.”

“Wow.” Hyunjin said, trying to process what Seungmin just explained. “So they’re all fake? Or specifically made for JYP labs?”

“Exactly, or every activity from before is deleted.” Seungmin nodded. “Because with some accounts it looks like they were, like, wiped clean or something and repurposed?”

“Wow, weird…” Hyunjin agreed. “That’s suspicious indeed. But the question then is, what are they hiding? Why is no one interacting with them or are they policing it or something?”

“That’s what I thought too, so I checked out the things the theorists had on deliveries.” Seungmin clicked a few times to open a new page. “It seems they’re getting deliveries from Park Chemicals, which seems like a regular company, but the theorists think they’re somehow connected to JYP labs. I’m not sure, their evidence seems a bit circumstantial, but it could be.”

Hyunjin nodded again and looked at the listed evidence, it seemed like a bit of a stretch to connect certain people together, but that also could be because they’re trying to hide the connection? He wasn’t sure either. 

“If they _are_ connected, why is it suspicious? Or important?” He mused.

“Good question.” Seungmin scrolled a little further. “Here it says because they want to hide which chemicals they’re getting delivered and so it can be done discreetly, like, an inside job of both companies? I don’t know much about bookkeeping and that kind of stuff, but _if_ they’re connected it could be their way of getting suspicious chemicals. _If_ they’re even getting those.”

Hyunjin sighed and leaned back on his chair. “Those are a lot of ifs. I need a snack.” 

Seungmin gave him a surprised look after which he laughed. “Me too.”

They opened some bags of snacks and munched on them in comfortable silence before Seungmin spoke up again. “But really, what do you think? I’m, uhm, kind of invested in this. I get now why Yeji and her group are like this— well, I wouldn’t harass Chan, but you get the point.”

Hyunjin nodded. “I get it too. I’m really curious what’s going on— I mean, _something_ seems off, right? I mean, I thought I was being naive or something, but if _you_ think something's off, there must be, right?”

Seungmin laughed and patted the other. “I’m flattered, and I’m glad you think the same because that makes me more sure that I’m not crazy.”

“Of course you’re not!” Hyunjin laughed too and threw a potato chip at the other. “You’re smart, Minnie.”

“Thanks— and you’re helping clean up after this!” 

  
  


They joked around a bit more before they continued their research. Hyunjin thought that next time he maybe should bring a laptop with him, but doing this together with Seungmin was fun too. They found some more things that seemed a bit suspicious, like the statistics with the plumbers and that the employees didn't seem to have the disease or whatever was plaguing their town. Those were all things that could have different explanations depending on how you looked at it, and statistics didn't immediately mean facts, so it all still was guesswork whether JYP labs had any relation to the problems with the water. Hyunjin hadn’t expected it to be so hard to interpret things, everything was kind of guesswork, and it wasn’t half as easy figuring out the truth as it seemed in dramas. 

"Oh! Minnie! Look, according to the schedule they're supposed to be getting a delivery in half an hour." Hyunjin pointed to the screen. 

"Yeah." Seungmin nodded and slowly looked at him. "What are you suggesting?" 

"Uhm… do you want to, like, go look? Eavesdrop or something?" Hyunjin suggested, but it sounded a bit stupid now he said it out loud. "Nevermind, that's stupid, huh?" 

"No! Not at all!" The younger assured. "Maybe we'll find nothing, but it'll be kind of fun either way, right? Playing spies." He giggled and Hyunjin's heart melted. 

"You're so cute!" Hyunjin squealed and hugged Seungmin tightly. Seungmin laughed with a confused tone, but returned the hug. _Oh, right!_ Hyunjin suddenly thought, _we confessed yesterday._ He had almost forgotten about it because of the conspiracy theories and Chan and the fact that it actually didn't feel like anything drastically changed between then. _Well, now I can give him a kiss, right?_

Hyunjin did as he thought and pressed a light kiss on Seungmin's cheek. The younger gasped and moved back. 

"Sorry—" 

"No, you just startled me." He chuckled, cheeks rosy. "It, uhm, was nice." 

"Yeah? That was okay?" Hyunjin asked. The fact that they had confessed their feelings didn't mean that he could just do whatever he wanted. 

"Yes." Seungmin smiled and gave a chaste kiss on the cheek back. "But thanks for asking. Uhm, what about you? I realize we haven't really talked about, uhm, us yet."

"No, not really, but I'm okay with everything, whatever it means." Hyunjin chuckled and gasped. "Oh! Seungmin," He got up from the chair, kneeled in front of the other and grabbed his hand. "Will you be my partner both in detective work and in life?— uhm, as in boyfriends?" 

Seungmin snorted and slapped his free hand in front of his mouth, holding back laughter as he nodded, but Hyunjin saw his red cheeks. "Yes, of course. Gosh— you're a real romantic, huh?" 

"To bring some life to your boring house." Hyunjin teased and dodged a slap that had no power behind it. "I said house! Not you." 

"Better." Seungmin smiled and grabbed his hand again to pull him up as he stood up as well. "Well, partner, let's go do some investigating!" 

  
  


They went outside holding hands and headed towards the labs. It was quite an abandoned part of town, _also suspicious?_ Hyunjin thought, although the abandoned part was the only part that had available buildings and maybe they didn’t want to be close to town because of possible toxic waste? Or because the ground there was better? Either way, there weren’t a lot of places you could easily pretend to hang out without looking suspicious, the website had already warned that if you come there too much, you might risk a restraining order…

“What should we do so that we won’t look suspicious?” Seungmin asked as they approached the building. 

“Hmm…” Hyunjin looked around, there were no benches or something, only a road, other abandoned buildings and alleyways— Suddenly an idea popped up in Hyunjin’s head and he felt a blush creep up on him. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Seungmin noticed his change in mood of course. 

“Uhm… I had an idea, but maybe it’s— maybe it’s too much.” He stuttered, averting his gaze. 

“Well, I don’t really have any ideas immediately popping up, so just throw it at me?” The younger suggested. “Maybe we can work from there? I won’t judge your suggestion, I promise.”

Hyunjin knew that, of course, but that didn’t make things less embarrassing to say. “Uhm, I thought maybe we could pretend to be… you know, a couple making out in an alleyway or something.” He mumbled, looking anywhere but at Seungmin, afraid he had gone too far.

“Oh.” The other just said, and when Hyunjin slowly looked, he saw Seungmin looking as red as Hyunjin himself felt. “Uhm, it’s— it’s a pretty good idea, objectively speaking.”

“But subjectively it’s too much?” They _just_ agreed on being boyfriends, heck they hadn’t even kissed yet, so it would probably be too much, although Hyunjin himself wasn’t opposed to the idea.

Seungmin thought for a moment. “How would we then have one of us, or both, keep an eye out for the delivery?”

“Ah, yeah, it’s inconvenient to do it that way.” Hyunjin felt a tiny bit bummed out, but he didn’t blame Seungmin. “Uhm, what else do we have…”

“I’m not saying we can’t do it! Just that we have to think about _how._ ” The younger clarified quickly, to Hyunjin’s surprise. “I mean— we can think about other options, we have time until the delivery, but if you know how to make, uhm, your idea work that’s fine too.”

“Yeah?” Hyunjin wanted to be sure Seungmin would be okay with it.

“Yeah, just say anything that comes to mind, however stupid.” Seungmin shyly rubbed his neck a bit before making a thinking face. Hyunjin too thought about what they could do and couldn’t help but think about his idea, already feeling giddy in anticipation of the possibility.

“Oh, uhm, maybe we could, like, pretend to be kissing, one with his back to the lab and the other looks?” He suggested, feeling his cheeks burn, and not because of the summer heat. “Or else, uhm, maybe one kisses— or pretends to kiss the other’s neck or something while the other secretly looks? Then you can easily go back when someone looks our way?”

“That— that could work.” Seungmin nodded and Hyunjin saw he was trying to hide his embarrassment too. 

“You can say no.” 

“It’s fine— I’m fine with it, if you want it, we can do it. Uhm, as long as we don’t, like, immediately jump into it. Begin slowly.” He elaborated and looked on his phone to check the time. “The delivery should come in about ten minutes according to the schedule. So let’s go? Uhm, get used to it? Find out what works?”

Hyunjin nodded and grabbed the younger’s hand as he followed him to an alleyway near the lab building, but not directly across. They wouldn’t be able to hear what went on well, but every building around the lab was closed and their cover of wanting to have privacy would fail if they came too close to the lab. 

“So… how do we start?” Seungmin asked, playing with Hyunjin’s hand a little. “Shall we just see with what we can get a good view?”

“Yes that sounds good.” Hyunjin smiled at the other’s nerves. He felt them too, but right now no one was outside of the lab and Hyunjin decided to focus on the kissing aspect, which also made him nervous, but a better kind. “Shall we start like this?” He positioned them so that Seungmin’s back faced the lab and Hyunjin could see it past the other, and Hyunjin had his back against the wall so it would look more credible if anyone would see them. 

The younger nodded, but he seemed a little tense. Hyunjin smiled and lightly massaged his shoulders.

“You can relax, Minnie.” He whispered as he came closer. “Just tell me when to stop or when you get uncomfortable.” 

“Hmm.” Seungmin hummed and let out a breath before he slung his arms around Hyunjin’s waist, pulling himself closer. Hyunjin flicked his eyes between the lab and Seungmin’s lips a few times as he slowly but surely closed the gap between them, his hands coming up to cup the other’s cheeks. 

Once their lips touched, Hyunjin immediately forgot everything around him as he didn’t want to be distracted during their first kiss— but especially because Seungmin was just this captivating while he barely even did anything besides lightly moving his lips against Hyunjin’s. 

After a moment of letting himself be immersed in the other, Hyunjin remembered what they were here for and opened his eyes to look at the lab again. He noticed that Seungmin noticed that he was paying less attention to their kiss, and he took that as an opportunity to reposition them for a better view on the lab. He then kissed Seungmin again and regularly looked at the building. 

"Yes this works." He said as he pulled back, a bit out of breath. "For you as well?" 

"Yeah." Seungmin nodded with a tiny cute smile. "It's a bit awkward at first, when you're not paying attention, but after that it's fine." 

"Okay. Then we switch now?" Hyunjin suggested and turned them around so that Seungmin was against the wall now. "Maybe you want to put your hands—"

"There they come!" The younger cut him off and pulled him in a kiss by swinging his arms around his neck. 

After Hyunjin got over his surprise, he indeed heard a truck come closer, so he did his best to relax and look natural as he tried to pry his arms around the other's waist. Seungmin had been right in that it felt a bit awkward to kiss someone who wasn't paying attention, but once he looked at it as just him giving Seungmin affection, a one way kind of thing, it went better. 

He felt Seungmin strain a little and he shortly opened his eyes to see Seungmin was trying to see something. Hyunjin had to muster all his strength to not look back at where the other was looking, so he dove back into kissing Seungmin, but now along his warm cheek and jaw to give him more freedom to move his head around. The younger tensed and breathed in sharply when Hyunjin reached his neck. 

"Sorry, too much?" Hyunjin asked softly, still hovering over his neck. 

"No, you just startled me a little." Seungmin whispered back, still looking at what was going on at the lab. He wrapped his arms more tightly around Hyunjin's neck and tangled his fingers in his hair to signal him to continue, so Hyunjin did. He tucked his head in the crook of Seungmin's neck and pressed light kisses to his skin. He heard him gasp and hum a few times and felt his fingers twitch in his hair once in a while, but Hyunjin wasn't sure if it was because of him or because of what was happening at the lab. He was damn curious about what Seungmin saw, because he heard some chatter and the truck leaving again, but getting lost in Seungmin's scent and arms wasn't a bad alternative. 

Seungmin suddenly froze. "What? Oh, right—" 

Hyunjin stopped shortly too, but he lingered at Seungmin's neck to be sure. "What's up?"

"Jisung is here, but he's probably just picking up Chan." The younger whispered at him. "Should we hide? In case he sees us? The delivery is done."

"Nah, I think he'll be too preoccupied with swooning over Chan." Hyunjin chuckled. "And I kind of want to look." 

“Okay, we’ll switch.” Seungmin said, and even in the shade Hyunjin could see his rosy cheeks. 

They turned around and Seungmin began placing light kisses on and next to Hyunjin’s lips, his arms still around Hyunjin’s neck, but Hyunjin could see well enough past him. He had to do his best not to melt under Seungmin’s soft kisses and focus on what he saw, although he guessed seeing Jisung wait for Chan to pick him up wasn’t _that_ interesting.

After a few moments, Hyunjin saw Chan exit the lab along with some coworkers. Jisung waved at him and Chan stopped and turned his back— Seungmin breathed on his neck and left a few kisses— _Focus!_ Hyunjin steadied his breathing, slowly getting used to Seungmin kissing him, and saw Chan hurry over to Jisung. Chan’s coworkers were looking at the two and approaching the fence too, and even though Hyunjin couldn’t see their faces well, they seemed to be judging Chan and Jisung or something. Chan looked like he was urging Jisung to start walking while one of the coworkers brought out his phone and— _huh?_ Was he taking pictures of Chan and Jisung? The other was looking around and— _shit he's looking this way._ Hyunjin quickly ducked his head and began kissing Seungmin's neck and shoulder, hoping they didn't notice him looking. Seungmin tensed and softly gasped in surprise while Hyunjin took the opportunity to swiftly check if the lab workers were still looking. _Fuck— are they taking pictures of us too?_

They had to get out of there without looking suspicious, so Hyunjin hastily whispered 'lips— kiss my lips' and craned his neck so he could nudge Seungmin to lift his head so Hyunjin could slot their lips together. 

The younger seemed surprised as Hyunjin pushed them diagonally back, but he went with it until his back hit the opposite wall and Chan's coworkers hopefully couldn't see them anymore. Just to be sure, Hyunjin made sure he hid Seungmin as well as possible and kissed him some more, his hands roaming around to make it look more believable, as they slowly took a few steps deeper into the alleyway. 

After a moment more, Seungmin pulled back and looked around. Hyunjin did the same and luckily there was no one around. 

"What happened?" Seungmin panted, they were both out of breath from the kiss and from the thrill. 

"Let's first go somewhere else." Hyunjin took him by the hand and dragged him towards Seungmin's house again, taking the least busy route. "I don't know what you saw, but I saw Chan's coworkers taking pictures of Chan and Jisung and I think they were trying to take pictures of us too." 

" _What_? What the hell—" Seungmin exclaimed and looked at him in disbelief. He fumbled with his keys when they arrived at his house, hands slightly shaking. Hyunjin noticed he was shaking as well. 

"Yeah, and Chan seemed to want to get out of there as soon as possible? Although I'm not entirely sure." He explained further as they got inside. "He was talking with his coworkers before, so maybe he knew they wanted to take a picture?— No wait, it didn't seem like he told Jisung, but he wouldn't let them take pictures without Jisung's consent, right?" He was just saying whatever popped into his mind. 

"No, Chan wouldn't do that." Seungmin agreed and hurried somewhere to get a notepad. "But we should ask Chan about it." He began writing something down, presumably the question. "And taking pictures of _us?_ Either they're hiding something or they're _really_ paranoid about the theorists. Or both." 

"But if they're really paranoid about theorists, doesn't that mean they're hiding something?" Hyunjin wondered. 

"Could be." Seungmin agreed. "It doesn't necessarily mean they're hiding something _bad_ , maybe they just don't want their formulas to be stolen or something. Or they think the theorists want to sabotage them?" 

"Right, that's an option too!" Hyunjin was always impressed by the other's ability to see things from multiple perspectives. Seungmin was always so good at putting himself in others' shoes and treating everyone according to their individual needs, and Hyunjin wouldn't want anyone else to be his partner in detective work and in life— as a boyfriend— for now?— _not important right now._

"Should we ask Chan about it now?" 

"Hmm…" Seungmin thought for a moment. "I say let's leave it until Wednesday. We promised Chan an evening without work and theory stuff and I don't think it's urgent enough." 

Hyunjin nodded, he thought the same. He wasn't even sure if the coworkers had been taking pictures of him and Seungmin, since he had been afraid to look for too long. They _did_ take pictures of Jisung and Chan and they had their phone still out once they had spotted him and Seungmin in the alley, but the reasons why were still vague. Hyunjin _did_ also become more sure that there was _something_ not right with JYP labs, whether Chan knew it or not. 

He had also become more sure about his feelings for Seungmin— not that he hadn't already been a hundred percent sure of them, today had just been extra confirmation of them and made him discover he could love Seungmin even more. 

"Let's eat something and then gather our thoughts on what we found and what we want to ask Chan?" Seungmin pulled him out of his thoughts, startling him a little. "What were you thinking about?" Seungmin laughed. 

"Ah, just— just about what we've found so far— oh! I didn't hear what you saw yet!— and, uhm… about you…" Hyunjin was honest, Seungmin deserved to know how much and often he thought about him. 

"Oh." Seungmin smiled shyly and grabbed his hand. "Uhm, I'll tell you what I saw while we make some dinner, okay?" 

  
  


They did as Seungmin suggested and it kind of felt like they were already having that do-over of the date-but-not-really-a-date of yesterday, although Hyunjin was definitely planning on taking Seungmin on a properly planned one.

Seungmin told him that he saw the delivery and heard some conversation from which he thought the deliverer and one of the lab workers knew each other, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Hyunjin sighed, it was frustrating that there was no clear evidence pointing to that JYP labs was hiding something _bad_ or something, only that there was something off. He shouldn't have expected clear answers after only one day, else the theorists would've already found out more, but Hyunjin was proud of what they had accomplished today. He and Seungmin were a good team, and he wouldn't mind if they'd have to use their techniques to avoid suspicion again… 

After dinner and writing things down, it was getting late already so Hyunjin unfortunately had to go home again. 

"Thank you for helping me investigate, Jinnie." Seungmin smiled. "We are a great team and I had fun. I don't think I could've done this alone." 

"Me too." Hyunjin kissed him shortly to convey his thoughts. "Maybe after Wednesday more will join us?" 

"Could be." The younger shrugged. "I hope we'll get some more clarity on this then."

"Yeah— oh right! Should we still tell Jisung and Chan tomorrow?" 

"Yeah maybe we should. Although I think Chan wants us to wait with questions until Wednesday, maybe we can tell Jisung and he'll know if we should already tell Chan?" Seungmin always knew what was best. 

"Good plan." Hyunjin jumped a little in excitement. Finally some action in this boring town! "Well, good night Minnie. Text you tomorrow." He kissed him goodbye and happily skipped home. 

* * *

**JYP labs?**

_daengmin added hyun.e_

_daengmin added number han_

**daengmin :** sorry idk how to call this

 **daengmin :** but jisung we need to talk

**hyun.e :** yeah

**number han :** abt jyp labs? 

**daengmin :** yes 

**hyun.e :** it actually involves chan too but we thought we shld wait until wednesday

**number han :** ofc it involves chan

 **number han :** but y me

**daengmin :** we were kind of investigating things yesterday 

**daengmin :** bc of things lia said

**hyun.e :** oh bc this is also for wednesday

 **hyun.e :** should we add the rest too? 

**number han :** i dont rlly like the idea of doing things behind chans back

**daengmin :** were gonna tell him everything! 

**daengmin :** we just thought he didnt want any questions n things until wednesday

**number han :** okay

**hyun.e :** were not accusing chan of anything

_daengmin added flixie pixie_

_daengmin added spearbinnie_

_daengmin added jeongpin_

_daengmin added soondoongdorino_

_number han changed the group name to_ we love Channie <3 

**flixie pixie :** we love channie <3 

**hyun.e :** hi this is for wednesday

**daengmin :** hyunjin n i did some investigating yesterday 

**soondoongdorino :** ah

**jeongpin :** and? whats the tea 

**hyun.e :** we dont have anything concrete against jyp labs

**daengmin :** but we saw chans coworkers take pictures of jisung and chan

**hyun.e :** and maybe even of us

**spearbinnie :** u were spying on the lab? 

**daengmin :** we wanted to see a delivery and see if it was suspicious 

**daengmin :** then we saw that

**number han :** r u sure they were pics of me and chan

**hyun.e :** yes i saw it clearly

**jeongpin :** creepy 

**flixie pixie :** :( what does it mean

**number han :** chans coworkers r assholes

**soondoongdorino :** wow sung 

**daengmin :** why do u say that

**number han :** they called him yesterday and channie seemed angry

 **number han :** he said theres a misunderstanding w a project n its kind of a mess n theyre blaming chan

**flixie pixie :** :(

**hyun.e :** but y would they take pics of u n chan

 **hyun.e :** n maybe of us? 

**number han :** idk

 **number han :** bc they want evidence chan isnt focusing on work?

 **number han :** bc theyre done with ppl questioning them just like chan

 **number han :** bc those particular coworkers r assholes

**spearbinnie :** its kinda sus tho dont u think

**daengmin :** yeah we found other suspicious things but no idea _what_ they could be hiding 

**number han :** maybe its none of our business 

**soondoongdorino :**?

**number han :** chan said hes trying to handle n fix things himself at work 

**number han :** n we have to trust him to do it alone 

**number han :** he said we shouldnt do anything stupid 

**spearbinnie :** wow what happened

**jeongpin :** that sounds kinda sus

**flixie pixie :** :(

**daengmin :** yes thats def weird

**number han :** but we should leave it! 

**number han :** we trust channie right

**hyun.e :** ofc!

 **hyun.e :** but i dont trust jyp labs

**daengmin :** me neither

**number han :** gosh r u brainwashed by the theorists 

**soondoongdorino :** sungie whats wrong 

**number han :** idk

 **number han :** chan seemed to rlly not want me to interfere or ask abt his work after the phone call

 **number han :** so i wont

**hyun.e :** but we can still ask qs wednesday right

**number han :** idk 

**number han :** he didnt say

**daengmin :** then well investigate until then and ask chan what he wants us to do n then decide? 

**number han :** do whatever ig

**flixie pixie :** sungie :(

**number han :** im not mad

 **number han :** everyone can do what they want 

**number han :** im just not gonna interfere as channie asked me

**daengmin :** well only do it in groups to be safe okay? 

**daengmin :** me n jinnie n whoever wants

**soondoongdorino :** can u send what u found? 

**soondoongdorino :** so we know whats coming wdnsay

**hyun.e :** sure

**daengmin :** * photo attached *

 **daengmin :** * photo attached *

 **daengmin :** these were our notes n qs for chan

**hyun.e :** * link attached *

 **hyun.e :** and this is the theorist website 

**jeongpin :** damn

**hyun.e :** oh right felix

**flixie pixie :** yes?

**hyun.e :** did chaeryeong fix ur plumbing?

**flixie pixie :** yes! n she took samples or something n warned me to still b careful

 **flixie pixie :** but she assured me she fixed it

 **flixie pixie :** but she said u never know if the lab will sabotage it

 **flixie pixie :** n chan said hell help if things r still broken :)

**spearbinnie :** sounds good

 **spearbinnie :** wait but is the lab involved w the plumbing?

**daengmin :** were not sure

 **daengmin :** havent found a connection yet besides that they helped provide/pay for plumbers

**hyun.e :** the plumbing company seemed legit?

**daengmin :** yeah

**soondoongdorino :** okay 

**soondoongdorino :** im going back to work now c u guys

**number han :** be careful tho guys

 **number han :** i dont want chan to get into trouble bc of us

**flixie pixie :** r u rlly okay sungie

**number han :** just worried for chan

**daengmin :** thats why we want to investigate

 **daengmin :** well pretend we dont know chan

**hyun.e :** n well be careful

**jeongpin :** it cant be that dangerous right

 **jeongpin :** were all probably just overreacting

**spearbinnie :** cant be too careful

 **spearbinnie :** chanll give us some answers wednesday

**flixie pixie :** yeah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tension is becoming higher... Next chapter the meeting on Wednesday!


	5. What is going on in this damn town?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I see. Do you know of any connections between JYP labs and Park Chemicals?" 
> 
> "Other than that they're our supplier for chemicals, I don't know." 
> 
> "Have you asked about all the theories? And about the water?" 
> 
> "Yes, and I already told you guys about the water too. We're just doing our job and the theorists are trying to blame us to get some action here in Strayville." 
> 
> Seungmin seemed to get a little frustrated. Jisung hoped he wouldn't snap, none of this was Chan's fault. 
> 
> "Is that what you believe too?" 
> 
> Chan's eyes widened a little and he kept silent for a second before his demeanor changed back to serious again. "Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's busy for me with exams, but luckily I have already written this all! Have some minbin and the meeting on Wednesday! a long chapter!

**number han + chanistree**

**number han :** hey channie

 **number han :** about yesterday

 **number han :** i know you want to handle things alone but you know were here for you right? 

**number han :** anyway

 **number han :** about what you did before i left… 

**number han :** did you mean that? 

**number han :** im unsure of what your intention with it was

 **number han :** i didnt dislike it! 

**number han :** but im a bit confused bc we havent talked since

 **number han :** but i know youre busy so take your time! 

**chanistree :** lets talk later

**number han :** okay

* * *

**number han :** oh another thing 

**number han :** tomorrow is still on right? 

**number han :** do you want to talk about it there? 

**number han :** or rather not… 

**number han :** im not busy so you can choose! 

**chanistree :** yeah tomorrow is still on

**number han :** okay 

**number han :** and when do you want to talk? 

**chanistree :** it didn't mean anything 

**number han :** oh

**chanistree :** just forget about it 

**number han :** okay

* * *

"You are overthinking—" 

Minho yelled and jumped about a meter high. When he turned around he saw his boyfriend had climbed over the counter and had ambushed him in the kitchen. 

"Gosh, Bin, do you want me to die?" He breathed and slapped the laughing boy. 

"Sorry, it's just fun to startle you!" Changbin laughed and dodged a few hands flying at him. "And in my defense, usually you notice me coming in right away, so I have to take my chances to startle you when you don’t." 

Minho rolled his eyes with little seriousness and walked away to close up the cafe. "You're here to help clean up?" 

"Uhm— well…" Changbin stuttered and Minho snickered silently. "I came here because I wanted to see you!" 

"How romantic, Bin. I know you can't get enough of me." Minho teased, grinning at how easy it was to fluster the younger. "Spill it. Whatever you want to say or ask, I'll be cleaning up in the meantime." 

Changbin was speechless for a moment, but he should know that by now they could both tell whenever the other had something on their mind. That wasn't even exclusive to the two of them, everyone of their friends had that ability, although varying in strength depending on the person. Minho guessed that Changbin had probably already been distracted from what he had been here for. 

"Right— as I said, you're overthinking." The younger started. "You didn't notice me sneaking in." 

Minho was silent. Changbin was right, he was kind of overthinking things with Chan and Jisung. He just couldn't help but be worried for the two of them, and he felt frustrated that he couldn't be of that much help because he was busy with the cafe. 

"Did you visit him today?" He asked. Jisung had said he didn't want to talk about things over text and he had visited the cafe again yesterday, telling him all about what happened with Chan. 

"Yeah, together with Felix and Jeongin, and apparently Seungmin and Hyunjin had visited him earlier today too." Changbin confirmed. "Did you know Seungmin and Hyunjin got together Sunday? Like, _finally—_ but that's not important right now. Did Jisung also tell you about the, uhm— Chan kissed him before he basically threw him out of his house?" 

"Yeah. And also that he told him to know that he loves us? Why does that sound like some sort of thing to say before he does something reckless?" Minho hated the fact that Chan seemed to be having a hard time but didn't want to confide in his friends. It reminded him of when he was acting weird a few weeks ago but worse. 

"Exactly." Changbin shuddered. 

"Oh, and has Chan responded to Jisung's messages yet?" 

"Yesterday he said 'let's talk later' and today Jisung had sent some more messages, but he hadn't responded yet. Uhm— let me look." He got his phone out and checked his messages. "Jisung said tomorrow's still on, but Jisung’s not responding to anything else, so I don't know if Chan has said anything else." 

Minho nodded, feeling a little shaky. Why was he having this bad feeling? It felt like he had swallowed stones and was carrying them with him in his stomach, burdening him. Tomorrow couldn't come faster, he needed answers and Jisung deserved answers. 

Suddenly he felt two soft arms wrap around him and lips ghosting on his neck.

“I know you’re worried, I am too, but there’s nothing more we can do until tomorrow.” Changbin said and squeezed some of the worries out of him. “And we already talked more than enough about everything regarding it, so let’s relax okay?”

Minho smiled, Changbin knew exactly what to say to calm him down and keep his mind off things. He sincerely hoped that Jisung and Chan weren’t overthinking things, especially Jisung.

“Yes, but before that I think we should send Jisung some encouraging words.” He got out his phone and typed about the same thing Changbin had said to him. Texts should do it, he hoped, because the rest had already visited. 

“You’re a sweetheart, you know that?” The younger chuckled. “I’m glad I get to see all these sides of you.”

“You mean I’m a cold bitch otherwise?” Minho teased and laughed at Changbin’s whines. “Well, I was inspired by you to text Jisung, so maybe I am.”

“Minho!” His boyfriend pushed him and then pulled him upstairs to his apartment by the hand. “You know what I mean.”

“I don’t.” He decided to continue teasing, it was a good pastime and it distracted him from other things. It also made him laugh, which is why Changbin never complained.

Changbin dramatically sighed and turned to Minho again, letting go of his hand. “You’re always a sweetheart, it’s just that your emotions and gestures are more subtle than with others, and you like teasing people, but you always know other’s boundaries— why am I saying this? You already know that.”

Minho laughed and cupped the flustered boy’s cheeks. “I do. I just like hearing you express your feelings.”

Changbin hmphed and grabbed Minho’s cheeks right back. “I know, but I had something else in mind for tonight.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Less talking, more of this.” He said and stood on his toes to pull Minho in for a kiss, making Minho melt immediately. 

Minho almost sighed into the kiss, feeling the rest of his tension seep away as he let his hands fall to Changbin’s soft sides to pull him closer. He would be lying if he said that this wasn’t exactly what he needed. He didn’t need to talk anymore, he didn’t even like talking about serious stuff and feelings unless it was necessary, he just needed to get lost in the warm embrace of his boyfriend and not think about anything else. This way he would definitely survive until tomorrow. 

“I love you, Bin.” He breathed in between kisses.

“I love you too.” Changbin sighed and Minho thought he had never seen such a beautiful sight. Changbin was always beautiful, but when he was sincere and opened himself up he was the most beautiful.

Minho smiled at the memory of Changbin once telling _him_ that exact same thing, although Changbin also liked his tsundere side. 

“What are you smiling about?” 

“You.” Minho shrugged, he felt so fond that he could burst so he pulled Changbin closer to continue where they had left off and deepened their kiss. His feelings of fondness didn’t dissipate, though, not when Changbin couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, so he just let his feelings overflow and spill into their passionate kiss. 

* * *

Minho woke up well-rested and with the sun already brightly shining into his room, but he also felt warm because of the soft body lazily slung over him. Changbin was still sleeping, head tucked into the crook of Minho’s neck. 

How long had they been sleeping? Minho checked his phone to see it was already almost noon, and he was glad his parents had been willing to take care of the cafe today, because he had needed this sleep. 

When Minho took a good look at their position, he noticed Changbin was almost completely covering him and had thrown the covers off, probably because he had been warm. He felt a smile tug at his lips from how cute his boyfriend was, and he couldn't help but pepper him in kisses. 

"Binnie, wake up." He whispered. "It's already noon." 

Changbin scrunched up his face and groaned, holding Minho tighter. Minho sighed and began to squeeze the other's belly. That made Changbin squeak and shoot back, eyes wide open. Minho smirked at him. 

"Meanie." The younger pouted sleepily.

"I can't help that your belly just feels so soft." It was one of Minho's favorite parts of Changbin's body, it just felt so squishy and soft, it made him extra cuddly. 

Changbin opened his mouth to protest, but they were cut off by their phones buzzing. 

**Strayville 8**

**daengmin :** when n where r we meeting today? 

**number han :** i think at abt 3 pm chan is done

 **number han :** sunday he was done a bit later but idk

**jeongpin :** n just at chans? 

**flixie pixie :** shall we pick him up from work? 

**chanistree :** dont have to

 **chanistree :** 3pm at my place is fine

**hyun.e :** uhh i might be later

 **hyun.e :** my plumbing broke :/

**chanistree :** oh have u already contacted the plumbers? 

**hyun.e :** no not yet

 **hyun.e :** i was busy finding temporary solutions for what to do w/o water

**chanistree :** ill send u the contact info! 

**daengmin :** wanna stay over at mine today until the plumbers come? 

**hyun.e :** yes thank you minnie 

**hyun.e :** and thanks chan

**flixie pixie :** oh shall we all bring over some food to chans? 

**flixie pixie :** to make it more fun? 

**jeongpin :** good idea! 

**number han :** sure

**daengmin :** are minho n bin alive? 

**spearbinnie :** yes

**soondoongdorino :** just woke up

 **soondoongdorino :** but ill start hurrying our slow binnie up rn so well be in time 

**spearbinnie :** :/

**hyun.e :** nice one

**jeongpin :** k c u guys l8r

**flixie pixie :** yes! 

* * *

Minho and Changbin washed up and ate some brunch, taking their time despite what Minho said because he just couldn't say no to his cute boyfriend. 

Maybe his brain hadn't been fully awake yet before, but now he was suddenly overcome by the worries crashing into him again. 

"Minho? You've suddenly gotten pale." 

"Right— I was just thinking, should we go by Jisung's before we go to Chan?" Minho suggested. "I just have this bad feeling. I mean, Chan was responding in the chat, so do you think he has already responded to Jisung too? If he has, Jisung hasn't said it and that doesn't bode well, if he hasn't, that means Chan's ignoring Jisung and that's bad too." 

Changbin's face fell as he got into worry-mode too. "M-maybe you're looking too much into things? Maybe Chan just said he needed more time." He didn't sound like he believed himself. 

"But _Chan_ kissed _Jisung._ Not the other way around. It doesn't make sense." Minho shot back. "But anyway— are you done with eating? Let's go get some food to bring and then go to Jisung.”

Changbin stumbled after him as he dragged him out, but he didn’t complain, in fact, Minho knew Changbin wanted this too. 

As they ran downstairs to go outside via the cafe, they were met with chaos. Minho saw his parents trying to calm down a few customers as some others were talking or yelling through each other, Minho recognized Ryujin between them. 

“Mom, what’s going on?” He asked.

“Uhm, some customers are acting a bit weird, scaring other customers and— sir, _please_ don’t hurt the cats!— then everyone started blaming things, including the cafe for the people acting weird— sir, please be careful!” She answered and hurried over to a customer who was pressing one of the cats against his head. 

“I’m telling you! It’s _not_ the cafe, it’s the water!” Ryujin yelled at a few people. “They were already acting weird before they came here!” She pointed to someone stumbling around, mumbling nonsense, and at the guy being weird with the cats.

Then someone suddenly grabbed onto Changbin, staring at him with creepily wide eyes. “What do I do? What do I do? What do I have to do?” They were chanting, gripping tightly.

“Huh?— Ow!” Changbin grimaced as the person was almost trying to break his arm. 

“Hey! Let go!” Minho intervened and tried to push them away, which went way easier than he had expected, because they let go. They just let go and stopped, staring into nothing with their eyes still wide.

“Are you okay?” Minho turned to Changbin, who nodded and rubbed his hand over his arm. Minho then turned to the customer again. standing defensively in between them and his boyfriend. “Please leave the cafe, we don’t tolerate attacking people.”

They still stared into nothingness.

“Can you please leave the cafe?” Minho repeated, after which the customer nodded lightly and stumbled away, no resistance at all. When Minho looked around, he saw Ryujin coming at them.

“I saw that. What did you do?” She asked.

“Uhm, I don’t know. I just asked them to leave, twice.” Minho shrugged, still confused. 

“Hmm.. Interesting.” Ryujin nodded and turned to the other strange customers. “Leave the cafe.” She said to them.

They both nodded and stumbled towards the doorway, one still with the cat in his arms. 

“Sir! You can’t take the cat with you!” Minho’s mother called after him and the man stopped, but didn’t do anything else.

“Put the cat down.” Ryujin stated, and the man complied. “Now, leave.” Again, he did exactly what she said. 

“How did you do that? It seemed like they wouldn’t listen to me.” Minho’s mother came to join them again. 

“No sometimes they don’t seem to listen…” The theorist mumbled. “But sometimes they do. Interesting. I _have_ to report this!” With that, she gathered her stuff and ran out of the cafe.

“Okay…” Minho trailed off, feeling bewildered. “Mom, will you handle things here? Else you can call me if customers are bothering you.”

“Thank you, sweetie. I’ll handle it, you go have fun with your friends, okay?” She smiled and urged him and Changbin outside.

“What the hell was that.” Changbin breathed, grabbing Minho’s hand as they walked to the store.

“Exactly… I mean, I’ve seen people acting weird before but not to this extent.” Minho shuddered a little. _What is going on in this damn town?_

* * *

Jisung read the messages on his phone and replied with a ‘sure’ although he wasn’t really processing what was being said. Once he closed the group chat his eyes landed on his private chat with Chan again. Chan’s messages had been so short and confusing, but at the same time very clear: Chan didn’t want to talk about it and he regretted it, it ‘ _didn’t mean anything’_. 

He threw his phone away in frustration and buried his head in his arms. _Why did he do it then? Just to confuse me so I would go away?_ — No, that didn’t make any sense! Kissing him would only make it more likely he _wouldn’t_ go away, and the kiss seemed so… sincere. However short it had been, Jisung had felt the emotion in it, and Chan wouldn’t just kiss someone without reason, right? Hadn’t he seen what Jisung felt for him? Couldn't he have explained a bit more? Jisung would have gladly waited longer if it meant he could talk with Chan in person and get a better explanation, even if it was just 'I thought I liked you but actually not' or something. 

Jisung sighed and felt tears prickle in his eyes, it didn't make sense. Chan had been so sweet on Sunday, even when he had urged Jisung out of the house, so why did his texts feel so cold? Even if Chan was tired, he could just postpone his answer, right? 

Jisung was wallowing in his negative thoughts until he heard the doorbell ring. He quickly dried up the tears that had slowly been falling and blinked a few times to try to get rid of the redness. 

When he opened the door, he already saw that his friends were seeing right through his attempts of hiding his sadness. _Right— what's the time? I was supposed to get some food for the get-together— oh gosh, the get-together. Will I be able to face Chan—_

"Jisung? Are you okay?" Jeongin pulled him out of his thoughts. "You kind of look like shit." 

Jisung snorted at the blunt comment, making him feel a bit better. Seeing his friends made him feel better already. 

"Did you even sleep?" Changbin asked, worry evident on his face when Jisung answered with a 'meh' and a gesture conveying that. "What did Chan answer yesterday? Or today?" 

Jisung pressed his lips together, trying to keep his emotions in check. "He said the, uhm, kiss didn't mean anything and that I should just forget about it." 

"What the hell?" Minho exclaimed. "Did he just say it like that? Over text?" 

"Uhm… yeah." Jisung got his phone out to show it. 

"That is so… _not Chan?"_ Jeongin commented, squinting to read the texts. 

"There is _definitely_ something off with Chan lately. Especially since Sunday, so I don't think it's your fault, Jisung." 

Jisung appreciated the comment, but what if the thing that was off was the kiss? He voiced his thoughts and Minho sighed. 

"Maybe you should ask him in person one more time. That would be fair for you, you deserve a proper explanation." Changbin said and patted him on the shoulder. 

Jisung just shrugged and muttered an ambiguous answer, he didn't want to burden Chan any more than they were already doing with all the questions about his work. "Yeah, by the way, I still have to get something to bring later so I'll do that now." 

"And we'll join you." 

  
  


While getting some snacks, they came across Hyunjin and Seungmin, who joined them to go to Chan's after. It was still a bit early, but not early enough that they could do something different before going. 

When the six of them arrived, they saw the door open and two people leave the house. Jisung thought he recognized them as the two Chan had been talking to on Sunday. _Are they part of that project?_

The two shortly looked at them before leaving while softly talking to each other. Jisung noticed Hyunjin had subtly begun standing in front of Seungmin to block their view. 

"Oh, hey! Everyone's already here." Felix greeted them and waved at Chan in the doorway. "Hey Chan!" 

"Hi guys, come in." Chan smiled a little and Jisung had to look away. _He seems normal?_ Right now Jisung didn't know if that was a good thing. 

"Who were those people?" Seungmin asked immediately and Jisung shot him a quick look. _Maybe it's best to just get it over with, yeah._

"Some coworkers. We had some things to talk about, but I wanted to be home for this so I suggested they walk home with me." Chan explained simply. 

"Did you know they were taking pictures of you and Jisung yesterday?" Hyunjin blurted out, earning a few gasps from others. 

Chan stopped what he was doing and raised an eyebrow. He seemed genuinely surprised. "Excuse me? Are you sure?" 

"Yes. Uhm— Seungmin and I were doing some investigating because we were curious, and we saw that. Maybe they took pictures of us too, but I'm not sure about that." Hyunjin rambled nervously. 

"Hmm. Weird. I'll have to ask them about it, I guess…" The oldest mumbled, and added, "But I don't think they mean harm. They're a bit strange, yeah, but not bad, I think." 

"As strange as the people in the cafe today? It seems like the disease or whatever is spreading more and more." Minho commented and Seungmin got out his notebook. 

"Right! Chan, are there a lot of people with 'the disease or whatever' at work?" He asked, it felt a bit like an interrogation, but Chan didn't seem to mind that much. 

"Uhm, I don't really pay attention to that, but I guess some are on sick leave? It's a big company so I'm not sure, but I guess scientists are a bit more careful with these kinds of things." 

Jisung nodded, that made sense. Nothing Chan said seemed suspicious so far, right? 

"Do you know what it might be? The disease, I mean." Seungmin asked further. 

Chan shook his head. "No, but I haven't been in much contact with it, so I don't know the symptoms." 

Seungmin prompted Minho to give a description, which he did, and it sounded really freaky. The theorists claimed it came from the water, but Chan had analyzed it and that implied it wasn't from the water. And a disease making you extra gullible or something? Creepy. 

Chan made a subtle face from which Jisung deduced that he thought it was creepy too. "Sorry, I'm not a doctor either but I have no idea what it could be." He then clapped his hands together. "Anyway, shall we sit down and have some snacks? Do you have any more questions?" 

Minho shot Jisung a look, but Jisung shook his head. He wouldn't ask Chan about the kiss again in front of everyone. 

"Actually, yes. Sorry that we're asking so many questions, but maybe we can help disprove the theorists this way." Seungmin said and offered an apologetic smile. Chan nodded to signal he could go on. “Do you know why all social media accounts JYP labs interacts with and vice versa are made around or after the time when the labs accounts were made? And if not, why it seems like they were repurposed after that date or had no significant activity?”

Chan shrugged. “I don’t know, sorry. I don’t keep track of the social media activity.”

“And do you have any idea as to why it seems like they don’t interact much?” 

“Probably because we aren’t really a public company?”

“Right. What was it you do exactly?”

“We do research about the chemical compositions of the air, ground, water, plants, etcetera and do experiments on them, and we do some developing and research for clients, but that's not the main part and I don't work in that section.”

"I see. Do you know of any connections between JYP labs and Park Chemicals?" 

"Other than that they're our supplier for chemicals, I don't know." 

"Have you asked about all the theories? And about the water?" 

"Yes, and I already told you guys about the water too. We're just doing our job and the theorists are trying to blame us to get some action here in Strayville." 

Seungmin seemed to get a little frustrated. Jisung hoped he wouldn't snap, none of this was Chan's fault. 

"Is that what _you_ believe too?" 

Chan's eyes widened a little and he kept silent for a second before his demeanor changed back to serious again. "Yes." 

Seungmin and Hyunjin shared a look that Jisung interpreted as distress and light frustration. 

"Okay." Seungmin almost gritted out through his teeth. "I still would like an explanation for why your coworkers were taking pictures of you and Jisung, and if they did of us." 

"Yeah, I'll ask them about it." Chan said calmly and it seemed to annoy Seungmin even more. Did Chan already fix things at work? Or were those two on his side? Or did Chan get over his anger? "Are we done then? Any more questions?" 

Everyone looked at each other and most of them shrugged. _If_ there was something off, Chan didn't seem to know. Hyunjin seemed conflicted while Seungmin seemed like he really wanted to say something. 

"Okay, then—" 

"Why are you being so evasive?" Seungmin cut in. "I know you're sick of being questioned and it's your work so you can't just go and doubt them, and I don't want to fight with you, Chan, but there's _something_ off about the lab— it's hard to explain what exactly, but you seem awfully casual about everything. Is it that you don't know so you don’t care and don't want to ask further? You give these meaningless answers that barely convince me, so why should I believe _you_ are convinced?"

Jisung gasped and grabbed the taller boy's arm. "Seungmin! That's going a little far don't you think? You don't know what Chan has and hasn't done and asked." 

"It's okay, Jisung." Chan said. He was being so calm compared to Seungmin, which was saying something. "I'm sorry, Seungmin, but I think the theorists have gotten to your head. As an employee I can't share everything we do in the lab for legal reasons, and even if I could, it would take days to explain. We develop and do our own original research which can't be disclosed to just anyone before we patent it. You say I don't have anything convincing, but neither do you."

Jisung heard a few friends gasp along with him. _Chan is acting a bit weird too, isn't he?_ Jisung noticed. He didn't know if it was because of the fact that he was done with the questions or the stress of work or something else, but it was definitely abnormal for him to be so evasive and defensive towards his friends.

The atmosphere was tense and Jisung saw Hyunjin grab Seungmin's hand to calm him. Seungmin shot his boyfriend an urgent look. 

"I— I'm with Seungmin. I think something is off too, but we don't want to fight. We just want an explanation. Something." Hyunjin said hastily. "And I don't understand why you're being so, like, closed. Not open." 

Now Jisung had enough, they couldn't just accuse Chan of that. "Hey." He cut in, attention going to him. "Chan said he's working on this project and things are rough at work. They're kind of ganging up on Chan and despite that, he's defending the lab. Doesn't that say enough? Doesn't Chan's word say enough? And he said he wanted to deal with it himself. The suspicious things are probably a culmination of a lot of factors, including a wild imagination and coincidental correlations." 

He looked at Chan, who had a surprised expression before he nodded with a small smile. Something felt like it was missing, though, or was that just Jisung's lingering hurt from Chan's rejection? 

"Is that true, Chan?" Seungmin asked, expression softened and without anger but still with confusion. 

"Yes." 

"Oh." Hyunjin nodded and was silent for a moment before he continued. "You could've said that to begin with. Sorry for bothering." 

"Yeah." Seungmin agreed, but he didn’t seem completely convinced. 

"Anyway— let's drop the subject now? It doesn’t look like we’ll get any further." Jeongin suggested, cutting through the awkward tension. "Have some snacks?" 

  
  


They just ate some snacks, relaxed, talked and played some games as the tension luckily diminished a little, but it wasn’t like normal. Seungmin still seemed wary of Chan and Chan was less enthusiastic than he'd normally be. Jisung hated it, he just wanted his normal boring life in Strayville back. He and his friends would make it interesting together. 

After a while, Minho nudged him and leaned closer. "Hey, when are you going to talk to Chan?" 

Jisung froze and felt his stomach churn. He really didn't want to, but at the same time he did. "Uhm. I don't know." 

"We're not really doing anything now, so I say now." Minho knew Jisung needed a push if he was going to do it. 

"Right." Jisung nodded but didn't move to do anything other than fidget with his hands. 

"Do you want _me_ to ask Chan?" 

"No!— yes— no." Jisung didn't know, he just couldn't get himself over that threshold to _do_ it. 

Minho waited for a moment to see if Jisung would stand up, but he didn’t, so Minho did. He walked over to Chan and motioned to Jisung. 

"Yo, Chan. Jisung wants to talk to you for a bit. Is that okay?" 

Chan looked up at Minho and then at Jisung with a neutral expression. "Sure." 

Minho basically pulled Jisung up from his chair and motioned them to go somewhere private. The rest gave them a few looks from which Jisung saw they understood what it was about. 

"Shall we talk here?" Chan looked around, he was probably referring to whether Jisung wanted to go to a whole different room or not. 

Jisung thought for a second before deciding. "No, uhm, let's go somewhere private." 

Chan looked a little reluctant, so Jisung added, “It’s not about any theories or something. I promise.”

Chan pressed his lips together and nodded, so they moved to another room. Jisung let out a nervous breath while Chan didn't seem nervous at all. 

"What did you want to talk about?" 

"Uhm… About Sunday— I know you already answered me, but— but I just still felt a little confused. I don't really understand why you, uhm… kissed me." Jisung stammered, looking at the floor. Every moment of silence that followed after made his heart sink more. 

"I don't know either." The words pierced through Jisung's heart. _He doesn't know?_ Jisung looked at Chan to see, well, not much. His face was mostly neutral, a tiny bit apologetic. It hurt. 

"That's all?" Jisung asked, he kind of understood Seungmin's frustration from earlier of Chan giving meaningless answers. 

"I don't know why I did it, and I already gave you the rest of the answer." Chan said simply. "What more do you want?" 

_Wow._ Some more of Jisung's hurt turned into frustration. "Why are you being like this? I just want to know your thoughts, _something_ more than three-word answers." He rambled, having trouble controlling his breathing. "Heck— repeat yourself if necessary! Now it just looks like you don't give a shit." 

Chan flinched a little at the words, but Jisung didn't care, he needed some reaction. When the older pressed his lips together and looked away instead of answering, Jisung sighed. 

"What's up with you, Chan?" He asked and wanted to grab his arm, but Chan dodged. "Nothing." He said. 

"Then why aren't you saying anything?" Jisung couldn't hide the desperation in his voice anymore. He was on the brink of tears. "You know I— you know that I like you, right?" 

Now Chan reacted, now his neutral face broke and a slight frown appeared. The signs were subtle, but at least Jisung saw that he _felt_ something. Still, Chan kept silent and this time Jisung couldn’t stop the tears from blurring his vision. 

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” He asked, voice wavering and breaking as he felt tears stain his cheeks. “If you don’t like me just _say_ it, please— this is worse.”

Jisung felt embarrassed to cry like this in front of Chan while he almost begged for the other to do something, but he just wasn’t used to Chan being so cold and unresponsive. It hurt. 

He heard a sigh, but he couldn’t see the other’s expression as he had his head in his hands. _Is he done with me? With all of us?_ — 

“Sungie…” Chan’s voice sounded strained— with reluctance? emotion?— and Jisung felt two arms wrap around him. _Huh?_ "I'm sorry— I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please don't cry." Chan's voice almost cracked and it sounded hurried, desperate almost, a stark difference from earlier. 

"I just— don't understand." Jisung sobbed and felt Chan hug him tighter and card a hand through his hair. 

"I know— I'm sorry, I just— I'm not here with my head and I just need to deal with some things okay?" The older whispered, breathing a little uneven, but it still soothed Jisung. "I— I'm sorry for confusing you. I couldn't predict what would happen, but I want you to know that I— that I love you guys. I just don't want anyone of you to get hurt." 

Jisung looked up at Chan with his blurry vision and was met with a soft apologetic smile as Chan brought up a hand to wipe away some tears from Jisung's cheeks. 

"I'm sorry I can't explain much right now, but I promise I'll try to make it up." He wiped away a few more tears and Jisung melted a bit in his arms. 

"Can't we help in some way? You're— you're obviously suffering and I hate that." Jisung hiccuped a little. "If we're with the eight of us, maybe we can help." 

Chan bit his lip a little as he hesitated. "I realize, but maybe it's too late now. Either way— please be careful. Don't just trust anyone, not even me. Trust your gut." That same urgency Jisung had seen on Sunday shone in Chan's eyes again. "But don't show that you don't trust them." 

Jisung opened his mouth to say something, but Chan suddenly hugged him again. 

"I know it's still confusing, so again, I'm sorry." He said and pulled back to caress Jisung's cheek. "Let's go back before they get suspicious." 

Before Jisung could talk, Chan already dragged him back by the hand. The rest immediately whipped their heads towards the two and gave them curious looks. A few of them eyed their linked hands. 

"Anything to share?" Minho asked. 

Jisung looked at Chan, who looked back, and he tried to communicate that Chan should take the lead. 

"I told Jisung that I have a lot to deal with right now and he's understanding, luckily." The older said, squeezing Jisung's hand. He looked around the room, eyes shooting towards other places than where everyone was sitting too, before he continued. "Speaking of which, I had fun today, but I still have some unfinished work to do, unfortunately. Sorry. I'll update you when I have texted my coworkers." 

Jisung didn't want to go, but he guessed he had to. He trusted emotional Chan, not the unresponsive Chan, whatever that was, so he slowly left along with the rest of his friends. 

His worries about what Chan's kiss had meant had now faded into worries for Chan in general. What the hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmm... Chan is acting really weird...


	6. Desperate for solid clues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wrapped his arms around the other’s shoulders and enjoyed their moment for a bit longer before the doorbell rang, signalling that the plumbers had arrived. Hyunjin shot up in surprise and Seungmin silently snickered at his red cheeks as they scrambled up. Hyunjin quickly fixed his hair and then Seungmin’s as he walked towards the door to open it.
> 
> “Hi! Yes, thank you for coming! Come in!” He greeted the plumbers who silently greeted them back. “Do you want anything to drink? I don’t have any water, though, haha.”
> 
> Seungmin snorted at the bold joke and saw the plumbers snicker too, but without much feeling. The plumbers looked like normal plumbers, and their van and their equipment seemed normal too, not that Seungmin had expected JYP labs to be that careless, the theorists would’ve found something already otherwise. Damn they’re good, Seungmin thought as he suddenly felt a wave of insecurity wash over him. What are we doing? Do we even know what we’re getting into? They’ve already got their grip on Chan and we don’t even have a solid plan. Hell, we don’t even have one piece of solid evidence besides Chan’s vague statements and a lot of circumstantial stuff. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plumbers visit Hyunjin!

**we love Channie <3**

**daengmin :** im sorry to use this gc again but

 **daengmin :** did you guys think chan was acting weird too or have the theorists really gone to my head

**hyun.e :** i thought so too but yeah

**jeongpin :** i thought so 2

**flixie pixie :** he was acting diff from usual yeah

 **flixie pixie :** like kinda robotty or smth

**jeongpin :** yeah exactly

**spearbinnie :** yeah unresponsive

 **spearbinnie :** n kinda curt

**daengmin :** okay so im not crazy

 **daengmin :** jisung?

 **daengmin :** i especially wanna know what u think

**soondoongdorino :** yeah u guys were gone for a while

 **soondoongdorino :** is there any more u feel comf sharing?

**number han :** yeah he wasnt himself

 **number han :** he had a sudden mood shift

 **number han :** then he seemed like chan again

 **number han :** but he was being vague still

 **number han :** but theres def something wrong

**hyun.e :** can u elaborate?

 **hyun.e :** or not?

**daengmin :** is there smth that caused his mood shift? 

**number han :** uhh

 **number han :** i cried 

**flixie pixie :** :(((((

**spearbinnie :** oh no

**hyun.e :** :((

**soondoongdorino :** chan made u cry? 

**flixie pixie :** r u okay now? 

**number han :** yeah im ok

 **number han :** i cried bc he would barely talk to me 

**number han :** n i was confused n frustrated 

**number han :** but then he hugged me n began talking 

**number han :** he said he doesnt want us to get hurt n he loves us

 **number han :** n we should trust our gut n b careful 

**number han :** n smth abt that its too late for him to ask for our help

**jeongpin :** what does it mean?? 

**number han :** idk but he promised he would try to make it up for not explaining 

**daengmin :** i wasnt there but it sounds like hes being forced to lie by his work? 

**daengmin :** n he tried to do smth against them but now hes mayb being monitored or smth so he cant involve us? 

**jeongpin :** damn

**number han :** could be

**flixie pixie :** oh no chan :(

**soondoongdorino :** damnit

**spearbinnie :** so the theories are right? 

**hyun.e :** mayb but JYP labs is def doing smth sketchy

**jeongpin :** but hyunjin

 **jeongpin :** rnt u getting the plumbers soon?

 **jeongpin :** the jyp plumbers? 

**daengmin :** were not sure if they're connected besides that jyp provided them

**hyun.e :** ill try to find out! 

**soondoongdorino :** please be careful evryone 

**soondoongdorino :** as chan said

**number han :** yeah!! 

**hyun.e :** ill try 

**jeongpin :** will seungmin b there 2?

**daengmin :** that might be a good idea? 

**hyun.e :** yes id like that

**flixie pixie :** the more the better! 

**number han :** but dont show your suspicion

 **number han :** chan said that 2

**spearbinnie :** my gosh this is weird

 **spearbinnie :** icb this is happening in Strayville

**flixie pixie :** its not rlly the excitement we hoped for no

**soondoongdorino :** im glad u all r here bc i would have died alone 

**spearbinnie :** ill protect u

**soondoongdorino :** my strong hero <3 

**jeongpin :** fkgkgjfjdjdjdgkgk

* * *

Seungmin rang the doorbell and was greeted by the dazzling and warm smile he loved so much. 

"Hey Minnie." Hyunjin kissed him shortly, never failing to bring a Seungmin warm feeling. 

"Hey." He smiled back. "When are the plumbers coming?" 

"In about half an hour." Hyunjin answered and grinned. "Our boyfriend trick is really a handy cover, and it's real! We're the spy boyfriends." He posed in typical spy fashion, using his fingers as a gun. 

Seungmin laughed and joined the act, pretending to hide from imaginary enemies and talking into a nonexistent earpiece. They played a bit like that, hands interlocked because they were the spy _boyfriends,_ duh, and snickering whenever they accidentally knocked something over or tripped while hurrying to their next hiding place. 

One time Hyunjin tripped over his feet as they were crouch-running from behind the couch to the table, and fell right on top of Seungmin. He let out an embarrassed chuckle and an apology after which he sweetly smiled before his face turned serious and he looked around with his eyes slightly squinted.

“There they come! Quick!” He gasped and surged down to connect his lips with Seungmin’s, catching the younger by surprise. Seungmin melted a little and couldn’t help but smile at Hyunjin using their little game as an excuse to kiss. However stressful and worrying it was to not know what was happening at the lab and with Chan, Seungmin was so glad he could investigate with Hyunjin and that now the rest of their friends had their backs as well. 

He wrapped his arms around the other’s shoulders and enjoyed their moment for a bit longer before the doorbell rang, signalling that the plumbers had arrived. Hyunjin shot up in surprise and Seungmin silently snickered at his red cheeks as they scrambled up. Hyunjin quickly fixed his hair and then Seungmin’s as he walked towards the door to open it.

“Hi! Yes, thank you for coming! Come in!” He greeted the plumbers who silently greeted them back. “Do you want anything to drink? I don’t have any water, though, haha.”

Seungmin snorted at the bold joke and saw the plumbers snicker too, but without much feeling. The plumbers looked like normal plumbers, and their van and their equipment seemed normal too, not that Seungmin had expected JYP labs to be that careless, the theorists would’ve found something already otherwise. _Damn they’re good,_ Seungmin thought as he suddenly felt a wave of insecurity wash over him. _What are we doing? Do we even know what we’re getting into? They’ve already got their grip on Chan and we don’t even have a solid plan. Hell, we don’t even have one piece of solid evidence besides Chan’s vague statements and a lot of circumstantial stuff._

“Minnie, do you want anything?” Hyunjin pulled him out of his thoughts as he turned around to face him. “Are you okay?” He whispered when he saw Seungmin’s face, which was probably pale.

“Uhm— yeah, I’m fine.” Seungmin shook his head. “Just suddenly began overthinking, I think. And I’m fine, drink-wise.”

“Okay. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Hyunjin assured, kissed him on his cheek and grabbed his hand although Seungmin hadn’t stated the source of his worries. It did make him feel calmer. 

  
  


As the plumbers went to work with the plumbing, in a quite loud manner unfortunately, Hyunjin and Seungmin settled on the couch, pretending (but not _really_ pretending) to be cuddling while they still could keep an eye on the workers. Seungmin relaxed as his boyfriend leaned on his shoulder and lazily stroked a hand over his arm. 

The plumbers were just working normally, nothing suspicious as of yet— not that Seungmin knew anything about plumbing. One of them turned around and eyed the two on the couch. 

"It's going to take a while, so you don't have to watch or wait for us." He said. "You can do your own thing and we'll give a sign when we need anything." 

Was that suspicious? Probably not, huh? They could just want to be polite, or they're weirded out that they were just watching them do their work, or they could think they would want to do other things because they look like a couple… 

"Ah, yes. We'll still be in the vicinity in case you need anything, so just give a sign yeah." Hyunjin answered just as politely. "And I'll come to check a few times in case you're too busy to notice your dry throats, haha." 

Seungmin snorted again at Hyunjin's lame jokes, it was probably his mechanism to make them seem less suspicious. 

"Let's go, babe, leave these men to their work." The taller hoisted him up and dragged him away, Seungmin flushing at the pet name. "Let's hope they won't need anything too soon so we can finish what we started." He added in a low voice, but loud enough for the plumbers to hear. 

"Hyunjin!" Seungmin squeaked, and he didn't have to act his embarrassment, only that he had to slap his boyfriend lightly. 

Hyunjin snickered a bit at Seungmin's reaction although he had red cheeks of his own as well. When he closed the glass door to the hallway behind him, his expression turned a little more worried. 

"Sorry, did that go too far?" 

Seungmin let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. "No. To be honest, it was pretty smart to hint that we would be busy for a while unless they need something." 

"Oh, thanks." Hyunjin bashfully smiled, rubbing a hand over his neck. "I hope I'm not acting too suspicious— like, over the top— for them." 

"Hmm. Depends on how much JYP labs suspects us and how much they've told the plumbers— if they've even told them anything." Seungmin shrugged. He thought Hyunjin had been smart and that he shouldn't underestimate himself so much. He told his boyfriend so, and received an accomplished and proud grin. 

"Yeah, maybe I'm kinda smart sometimes." He beamed and trapped the younger against the wall. "I just take inspiration from what I want, and then I make it more dramatic." He added and didn't give Seungmin any time to answer before he already kissed him again. 

Seungmin would be lying if he said he didn't like this cover of being overly affectionate boyfriends. It wasn't optimal for his concentration on the sounds in the kitchen and living room, but it required little to no acting and it was kind of fun, he had to admit. 

_"So, do you think they're really, y’know…?"_ Seungmin could pick up being said. 

_"Dunno, they did seem… that tall guy with long hair…"_

_"Yeah, so do you think they told us the truth about…?"_

_Damn it._ He couldn't hear well through the walls and with all the plumbing noises, so he shifted them a little closer to the door. _Is this about JYP? Or about me and Hyunjin? Or both?_

_"Dunno, but let's just… you know how they can be."_

_"Yeah, definitely."_

A silence fell after that and he half-focused on the plump lips that were on his again. _That last part could possibly be about JYP labs._ _Or is it about the way customers_ — _couples?_ — _can be?_ Seungmin internally cursed that he hadn’t heard it well. Hyunjin pulled away and leaned his forehead against Seungmin’s, looking in his eyes with a questioning glint.

  
“What’s up? Did you hear anything?” He whispered. “I could barely hear anything because of the noise.”

_Damnit again._ “I couldn’t hear well either. They whispered the important parts of the sentences.” Seungmin pressed his lips together. “They mentioned you at the beginning, I think, and they were wondering if ‘they’ told them the truth about something, and said ‘let’s just’ something ‘you _know_ how they can be’.”

Hyunjin hummed and distanced himself a bit from Seungmin as he thought about what he said. “Hmm. Sounds like they’re talking about either customers, or indeed that JYP labs or some other boss told them something. We didn’t really tell them something that they could question, right?” 

Seungmin nodded, that was right, so it was likely that some other party told the plumbers something about Hyunjin and maybe him? Because they were talking about Hyunjin before that. Seungmin opened his mouth to compliment the other on his alertness, but he heard whispering again, so he now put his ear to the wall near the door to try to hear better.

“We don’t have to pretend to kiss while they’re talking, right? They won’t come here.” He whispered to Hyunjin, who nodded and put his ear to the wall too. Unfortunately the plumbing noises became even louder and the talking softer, so he could barely discern any words. _Is this a coincidence or are they talking about something important now?_

Seungmin internally cursed again. They really were not playing around, but there were too many clues fitting in the ‘JYP labs is suspicious’-narrative, right? Nevertheless, Seungmin was getting desperate for solid clues, _anything_ to solidify that they weren’t crazy and there was more going on than Chan having an especially hard time at work. 

They kept listening, but to no avail. Eventually the whispering stopped and the noise gradually became a little less deafening, so, after giving each other a defeated look, Hyunjin and Seungmin resumed kissing so they would at least look believable when the workers would need something. 

After a while, they heard something besides the constant noise, a faltering of the regular noise. Then they heard footsteps so Seungmin immediately pulled Hyunjin flush against him and tangled his hands in his hair, and felt Hyunjin throw his tongue into the mix. _Oh my gosh_ —

“Sir?” They heard someone call and a few knocks on the door. Hyunjin and Seungmin broke apart, both panting and carding a hand through their messy hair. 

“Yeah? I’m coming!” Hyunjin called back in a breathy voice. Seungmin stayed a bit behind Hyunjin because of his embarrassment to show himself with deep red cheeks and swollen lips. He had respect for Hyunjin that he managed to show himself like this, but he guessed this only made their cover more believable. “Sorry. Do you need anything?”

The plumber who had knocked stumbled back a little and gave his coworkers a bewildered look before stuttering a reply. “Uhm— yes. We were kind of getting thirsty, and we thought we could use a break— uhm, did we interrupt something..?”

“No! No, I told you to tell me if you need anything!” Hyunjin waved off, his breathing slowing down. “What would you want to drink? Oh! We still have some clean water in the coffeemaker if you want coffee. Else we have some juices, iced tea, that kind of drinks.”

The workers looked at each other before stating their wants to Hyunjin.

“And Minnie?” 

“Uhm, I’ll take some iced tea.” 

Hyunjin prepared everyone’s drinks and they chatted a bit with the plumbers, who told them about their progress, using terms Seungmin didn’t know, but it sounded like they knew what they were doing and things were mostly going smoothly. 

“There was one complication still, but that should be fixed soon— which reminds me, I still need to get the right pipe cutter—” The man turned around and walked right into Seungmin, causing his hot coffee to spill all over Seungmin’s partly exposed right shoulder and over his shirt. 

“Oh—”

“Ow, shit!—” Seungmin cursed and jumped back, almost letting his glass fall, and feeling his shoulder burn and sting.

A small panic erupted as the plumber frantically apologized and Hyunjin panickedly looked around for anything to help Seungmin.

“We need lukewarm water! Can we use—”

“I wouldn’t use the contaminated water, no— fuck, I’m so sorry.” The man apologized again.

“Okay, uhm— the cafe is the closest to my house so let’s go there and then uhm—” Hyunjin was already dragging Seungmin outside, gently holding his not-burned arm. 

“I’ll go by myself, you stay here.” Seungmin stopped him, it wasn’t a good plan to leave these plumbers alone in Hyunjin’s house. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, be quick— take care.” The taller quickly kissed him before he urged Seungmin outside.

  
  


Seungmin ran to the cafe, trying to ignore the sting in his shoulder. He was lucky the coffee had already cooled down a bit so it wasn’t boiling hot anymore, but it still _hurt_ , and it was summer so a lot of skin was exposed.

He quickly pushed open the door to the cafe and rushed to the back where he found Minho preparing an order or something. 

“Hey, I just need to borrow your water for a sec.” He said as he opened the tap and tried to get his shoulder under the water. It wasn’t really working.

“Okay— _wow_ what happened to you?” Minho turned his attention to him and stared at the burn on Seungmin’s shoulder. “Hold up, let me help— a washcloth works better for this— and take off your shirt.” The barista gently nudged him away and put a washcloth under the stream as Seungmin took off his shirt, which luckily didn’t stick to the wound, and sat down. When Minho began dabbing it on the wound, Seungmin flinched a bit at the pain, but this worked better indeed.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Jeongin suddenly appeared in the door opening. “I saw Seungmin rush in.”

Minho looked at Seungmin too, waiting for an explanation. 

“I got hot coffee on me.” Seungmin explained, flinching again when Minho pushed the cloth on his skin again, now to his chest, which was also slightly burned. “I was with Hyunjin and the plumbers and one of them accidentally spilled his coffee on me and Hyunjin doesn’t have any water yet.”

Jeongin made a face, sympathizing with his friend. “Ouch. Can I help?”

Minho nodded. “Yes that would be great. I’ll get another washcloth so you can both keep the wounds cold— you need to do this for about ten to twenty minutes so the wound doesn’t get worse.” He rewetted the cloth and handed it to Jeongin before he got another one and handed it to Seungmin. “I’ll be going back to work, but I’m here if you need anything— I think we have some non-stick bandage in the back somewhere.”

They thanked Minho and dabbed their cloths at the wounds in comfortable silence until Jeongin spoke up.

“So, did anything else besides the spilling of hot coffee happen?” He asked. “Any leads? Clues?”

Seungmin let out a sigh, a bigger one than he planned on and the younger raised his eyebrows. “No. Well— they were talking while we were in the hallway, and it _seems_ like they were told something about Hyunjin by some other party or whatever, but nothing solid.”

Jeongin hmphed and softly apologized when he pressed the cloth a bit too hard on Seungmin’s skin. “And the spilling of coffee? Was that just an accident?”

_Good question._ Seungmin hadn’t thought about that yet, he was too caught up in pain and everyone’s frantic behavior. “Hmm. I don’t know. The dude didn’t see me standing behind him, I think? I’m not sure, it all happened so fast, and they couldn’t have known Hyunjin would be able to make coffee? Unless they checked.”

“Okay. And what if they just wanted to spill something on you?” The younger suggested. 

“Hmm. I could’ve just lent some new clothes from Hyunjin. I don’t know what they would want to accomplish with doing that?” Seungmin pondered, he hated that they were grasping at straws again. _Why can nothing be clear for once?_ “Either way, they wouldn’t get the house for themselves if that’s what they wanted, and we already left them alone for a while in the living room, so they could’ve already done something then.”

“And what if they wanted Hyunjin alone?” Jeongin said and Seungmin froze, feeling a chill run over his spine— _Shit, have I played into their hands?_ “Relax, Seungmin! It’s just a thought.” Jeongin pushed the cloth on one of the less severe burns to get his attention. “Please, chill.”

“Right— we could be overthinking things— but they did talk about Hyunjin…” Seungmin couldn’t shake his icky feeling, so he grabbed his phone to message or call Hyunjin. His heart dropped when he saw Hyunjin had already messaged him a few minutes ago.

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**hyun.e :** minnie! are you okay?

 **hyun.e :** take your time n take good care of yourself okay?

 **hyun.e :** here everything is going fine

 **hyun.e :** theyve helped me clean up and theyr almost finished now 

**daengmin :** im fine!

 **daengmin :** minho and innie r helping me

 **daengmin :** be careful ok?

 **daengmin :** maybe they wanted you alone

 **daengmin :** were not sure but you can never be too careful

Seungmin anxiously waited for a reply, but he got none in the next few seconds, which wasn’t surprising really, but still. Then he noticed Chan had sent something in the groupchat too.

**Strayville 8**

**chanistree :** hey ive asked my coworkers about the pictures

 **chanistree :** they said they were just playing around

 **chanistree :** maybe get some blackmail on me to tease me

 **chanistree :** theyve deleted them now

**flixie pixie :** :((

**spearbinnie :** assholes

**chanistree :** its fine now

**number han :** and about hyunjin and seungmin?

**chanistree :** they said they saw people making out in an alley but didnt take pics

**soondoongdorino :** spicy

**daengmin :** okay thx for telling us

He didn’t really believe Chan now, especially not over text when they couldn’t see his demeanor and whether he was acting weird or not. It were, again, excuses and empty statements that could as well be lies. 

“You were making out with Hyunjin in the alley?” Minho startled the other two by suddenly entering the kitchen again. “Nice cover.”

Seungmin immediately felt himself get red. “It— I— Yeah it’s a good cover.”

Jeongin laughed too. “Nice one!”

“I see now why you’re so invested in this mystery! You get to have some fun on the side.” Minho teased and Seungmin cursed the fact he was with the two friends who liked to tease him the most. “I don’t blame you, I’d be the same if I got to it with Bin, although I have less faith in our acting skills.”

Seungmin huffed out something unintelligible and shook his head. “That’s not what’s important right now. I need to know if Hyunjin’s okay.” He wanted to stand up but Minho stopped him.

“No, you need to protect your wounds. And do you want to go outside without a shirt?”

Minho was right, unfortunately, so Seungmin sat back down as Minho went to find the bandages and some tape. While they waited for that, Seungmin felt his phone buzz and he grabbed it at lightspeed.

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**hyun.e :** theyr finshing things up now

 **hyun.e :** so the waters back!

 **hyun.e :** im gonnasay bye to them 

**hyun.e :** so you can take care of yourselff

**daengmin :** okay good

Seungmin let out a breath of relief, Hyunjin seemed fine, he was typing a bit faster or sloppier than usual, but still he wanted to check up on him in person. Minho was taking his sweet time, though. 

“See? Everything is fine.” Jeongin said, looking over his shoulder at the phone, making Seungmin jump.

"I hope so, but he's typing a bit weird, they could've snatched his phone, or forced him, or drugged him, or taken him hostage—" 

"Jesus christ, Seungmin! Calm down for a second." Jeongin stopped him. "You could be back any second, do you think they'll take him hostage? That's exposing themselves, if there's anything to be exposed. He's probably just quickly typing so he can say bye." 

He was right, but Seungmin thought better safe than sorry. "Still, I'll call him to be sure—" 

“Found it!” Minho came back, waving around bandages and tape. “Sorry, we haven’t used the first aid kit in ages and it was buried under all kinds of other junk we never use, so—”

“Just get on with it!” Seungmin hurried him up and positioned himself so that the older could reach everything as he wrapped the gauze around Seungmin’s shoulder and chest. "Jeongin, can you call him?— no wait, we don't want you to get involved, but you can use my phone and just—" 

"Seungmin. For the last time, relax." The younger said, but still accepted his phone and started dialing Hyunjin's number. 

"Please keep still too, your legs as well." Minho requested, making Seungmin aware that he had been nervously wiggling his leg. Okay, maybe he was turning into a crazy theorist a bit, but he couldn't help but worry about Hyunjin. _Damn Jeongin for planting the idea in my head._

"He isn't picking up." _Fuck—_ "Before you freak out. He might be taking a shower, enjoying his fixed water or something." 

_Right, that could be, take a deep breath, Seungmin._ He did as he thought and felt himself getting a bit calmer, but it didn't last long because his phone buzzed again a few moments later. He snatched his phone back, not caring about it being inconvenient for Minho. 

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**hyun.e :** minnie? 

**hyun.e :** why did you call? 

**hyun.e :** is everything okay? 

**hyun.e :** are you still at the cafe? 

**daengmin :** yeah

 **daengmin :** i just wanted hear your voice 

**daengmin :** make sure youre okay 

**hyun.e :** ofc im okay

 **hyun.e :** hows your burn? 

**daengmin :** its fine

 **daengmin :** almost done covering it 

**hyun.e :** good

**daengmin :** can i still call you? 

**hyun.e :** oh sure just a sec

 **hyun.e :** alright 

_"Hello?"_ Hyunjin's voice sounded normal and Seungmin let out a breath. 

"Hey Jinnie." 

_"What's up? Why did you want to call me so bad?"_

"As I said, I just wanted to make sure you're okay." Seungmin explained. "I guess I was overthinking again because you were alone with them, and hearing your voice calms me." 

_"There's nothing to worry about."_ Hyunjin said, voice grounding for Seungmin. It really seemed like things were fine? _"In fact, I told my parents that things were fixed and they want to celebrate tonight, just because."_

"Oh, that's nice. So you'll be busy?" 

_"Yeah, sorry, I'll have to do some preparation and stuff. And take a shower, finally, haha."_ Hyunjin didn't sound _that_ enthusiastic, but then again, his parents and he didn't always get along. It wasn’t _bad_ , but they just often had different views on things, so Hyunjin didn’t tend to tell them everything that went on in his life. He probably also didn’t tell them about his relationship with him, so he shouldn’t bother him for too long. 

“Right. Well, try to have fun, okay? Enjoy your working water.” Seungmin chuckled, trying to keep it light. 

_“I will. And you take care too. Let your burns rest.”_ Hyunjin answered. _“I’ll be going now.”_

“Okay, talk to you later. Love you, Jinnie.” 

The other side was silent for a second and Seungmin had a mini-panic attack. _Did I go too far? Oh, is he already with his parents?—_

_“Love you too. Bye.”_ It was a quick answer after which Hyunjin immediately hung up and Seungmin facepalmed.

“What happened?” Jeongin asked.

Seungmin sighed and pocketed his phone. “His parents are celebrating the return of the water with him and I wasn’t thinking if he was with them or not.”

“Oh, so he didn’t say it back?” Minho made a face and patted him on his good shoulder. 

“No, he did, but, like, rushed. It’s fine— as I said, I wasn’t thinking.”

“So you’re finally calm?” Jeongin gave him a pointed look. “Or are you now worrying about Hyunjin with his parents? You know he always figures things out with them, right?”

“Yeah, no, I know.” Seungmin sighed again, he was being unreasonably restless indeed. He just wanted Hyunjin to be happy all the time, however unrealistic that was.

“I know it’s hard to be apart for more than a few hours, but I think it’ll be good for you to take a break this evening, and maybe the rest of tomorrow too.” Minho suggested. “Clear your head, don’t think about the theories for a while. Maybe then you’ll have new motivation and a fresh look on the matter, which might get you— us? some solid evidence finally.”

He made it sound like Seungmin was being a bit paranoid, and maybe he was. He did feel tired all of a sudden, worry and frustration wear you out like that, he guessed, so going home and resting this evening sounded like a good idea. 

He nodded and thanked Jeongin and Minho for their help before he put on his shirt again and headed out. When he exited the cafe, he felt like he was being watched. He quickly looked around, but he didn’t see anything. _Gosh, I’m really paranoid, huh? I should rest._

  
He would talk to Hyunjin tomorrow again, text or call him, maybe even hang out to see if the plumbing was really okay— _shit, I’m thinking about it again._ He shook his head and entered his house, lazily changing his clothes and almost immediately dozing off after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... are the plumbers innocent or not? What do you guys think? Is Seungmin paranoid?


	7. Pure panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungmin ran and ran, tears blurring his vision as he just ran away from the lab and took as many turns as he could. He couldn't go home, there they would find him. 
> 
> He stumbled and tripped a few times and after a while, when his mind had cleared up a little bit, he saw he had run all the way to the other part of town, the part where Jeongin lived. He sincerely hoped Jeongin and Felix were at the younger's place as he frantically rang the doorbell. 
> 
> "Jeongin open up, Jeongin open up." He chanted to himself with ragged breath as he looked around to see if anyone had followed him. 
> 
> "Wow chill with the doorbell—" As soon as Jeongin opened the door, Seungmin rushed past him, shut the door and collapsed on the floor, all the tension, pain, and adrenaline releasing and catching up on him as he broke down. 
> 
> "Shit— Seungmin what's wrong?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They had some rest, so now it's time for action, will they gather solid evidence?  
> (Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on things that appear in this chapter, so I'm sorry for any inaccuracies!)

Seungmin woke up feeling more rested than he had felt in a while. He felt a little drowsy from having slept so much, but that was it. His parents had woken him up for dinner yesterday, but after that he had relaxed as Minho had told him to do, and he felt refreshed now, ready to tackle the problems in a more calm manner and with a clear head. 

He took his time taking a bath, being careful of his wounds, and then he treated himself to a big breakfast. He checked his phone for messages, but saw nothing. Not that he expected anything, but he decided to text Hyunjin. He might be taking a calmer approach, but that didn’t mean his ‘can’t be too careful’ approach went out of the window.

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**daengmin :** hey how did it go yesterday?

 **daengmin :** with your parents and with the plumbers

After a while, a buzz of his phone signalled that Hyunjin had replied.

**hyun.e + daengmin**

**hyun.e :** it went fine

 **hyun.e :** both things

 **hyun.e :** we had a nice dinner

 **hyun.e :** and nothing suspicious from the plumbers

**daengmin :** the water is working well?

**hyun.e :** yes it works perfectly

**daengmin :** so no need to check?

**hyun.e :** i quickly did it but i dont know anything about plumbing

 **hyun.e :** and lets not strain your shoulder

**daengmin :** its a bit better though

 **daengmin :** theres just a lot of burns but not that severe

**hyun.e :** okay

 **hyun.e :** still be careful

 **hyun.e :** let it rest

**daengmin :** yeah i will

 **daengmin :** so what should we do now

 **daengmin :** investigation wise

 **daengmin :** bc the plumbers did talk abt suspicious things

 **daengmin :** and abt you

**hyun.e :** yeah but nothing happened

 **hyun.e :** idk

 **hyun.e :** mayb we should take a break

**daengmin :** yeah and take a sec to look at everything from another perspective

**hyun.e :** yeah n your wounds can heal

**daengmin :** still be careful tho

 **daengmin :** in case they did something funky

 **daengmin :** or are still planning on doing smth

**hyun.e :** ofc

 **hyun.e :** you too

**daengmin :** i will

**hyun.e :** great

 **hyun.e :** im gonna have some breakfast so

 **hyun.e :** ttyl 

**daengmin :** ttyl

  
  


The rest of the day, Seungmin did as his friends had suggested and rested. He took some time to write in his diary, and just chilled, looked up some information about things he might want to do if his plan to sing Changbin and Jisung’s songs would fail, and practised his singing. He had to admit, it was nice to relax and he, for once, was grateful they hadn’t found something solid. _Tomorrow I’ll try to find a new perspective._

* * *

**we love Channie <3 **

**number han :** hey guys

 **number han :** evry1 have a nice rest?

 **number han :** how did things with plumbing go?

**hyun.e :** it went well 

**hyun.e :** everthings fixed 

**daengmin :** they said some weird things

 **daengmin :** but still nothing solid

**number han :** is there anything we can do?

**spearbinnie :** yeah

**hyun.e :** idk

**daengmin :** were kinda stuck

**hyun.e :** n chan said to be careful

**jeongpin :** so we stop?

**daengmin :** no still keep an eye out

 **daengmin :** were looking at a diff approach

 **daengmin :** but if you have any ideas

**soondoongdorino :** i would love to help

 **soondoongdorino :** but youd have to warn me so i can arrange it w the cafe

**flixie pixie :** well help thinking!

**spearbinnie :** yeah

**number han :** yeah

**daengmin :** thx guys

**hyun.e :** yeah its hard to find anything

**number han :** ill talk to the theorists again

**spearbinnie :** im with minho thinking n helping

**jeongpin :** damn

**flixie pixie :** innie wanna think together too?

**jeongpin :** sure

**flixie pixie :** yay

**number han :** good luck guys

**hyun.e :** seungmin shall we think too?

**daengmin :** sure ill come over

 **daengmin :** or at mine?

**hyun.e :** doesnt matter

**daengmin :** ill come over then

**hyun.e :** okay see you soon!

Seungmin walked to Hyunjin’s in a good mood. The weather was nice and he was sure he would figure something out together with Hyunjin, and his friends would help think of something too, and he was well-rested, a good prospect. 

When he arrived at Hyunjin’s house and Hyunjin opened the door, Seungmin couldn’t help but greet his boyfriend with a quick smooch.

“Hey.” He smiled brightly, but saw Hyunjin only had his eyebrows raised. “Sorry— not completely awake yet?” He chuckled.

“Ah, no.” The taller breathed and motioned him in. “Come in, do you want anything to drink?”

“I’m fine. But you did rest well yesterday?” Seungmin inquired. “I did.”

“Yeah, I did too.” Hyunjin nodded and headed to the kitchen to grab a drink for himself. “And I was thinking about what we could do now… I thought maybe we could go by the lab again, see if that gives us anything.”

Seungmin hummed and cupped his chin in his hand as he thought about it. “We could do that, yeah. I hadn’t really thought about any new approaches yet, but that might work? Any special reason? Are there deliveries again?”

“Uhm, I hadn’t checked that, but I thought maybe we could take a look at the back of the lab. We had only looked at the front.” Hyunjin shrugged lightly, back still turned to Seungmin. 

Seungmin nodded. “Shall we notify the rest? In case anything happens? Or in case someone wants to join?” 

“Uhm…” The other trailed off as he focused on making his drink. “You can do that, but we don’t have a cover for them, right? And more people is more suspicious.”

“Of course.” Seungmin lowered his phone and pocketed it again. “And do you want to look at the plumbing again? I’m still kind of hung on the fact that they said something about you and 'the truth'— I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking.”

Hyunjin turned around and shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “You can do that, but I’m starting to think we’re overthinking. Maybe they just mentioned me because I was playing the horny boyfriend."

That was an option too, yes, an option that made Seungmin's ears heat up. He wondered how Hyunjin could say that without getting embarrassed. Speaking of which— something felt off. It was a light feeling tugging at the back of his mind, but it was there. It felt like there was something missing. Seungmin tried to put his finger on it, but couldn't yet, so he decided to check out the plumbing although he didn't know anything about it. _You can never be too careful,_ he thought again. 

He inspected it along with Hyunjin, who just crouched beside him, and then it hit him— _Hyunjin isn't being clingy at all._ He hadn't hugged or kissed him yet, he hadn't put his head on his shoulder yet or asked how his burns were. Was Hyunjin _that_ focused on investigating or was something wrong? _Or am I overthinking yet again? No. Despite being focused on investigating he's always cuddly._

Seungmin looked sideways at Hyunjin who was just looking at the pipes under his sink. He contemplated asking him about it, they always told each other everything so it would be fine, right? 

"Hyunjin?" He began. "Everything okay?" 

"Hmm? Why?" Hyunjin looked at him. 

Seungmin tried to look for any signs of distress or something in his face, but couldn't find any. Gosh, he hated this constant feeling of doubt. Usually Hyunjin knew what to say to make him feel supported and sane, but now it Hyunjin was the one who made him doubt himself. 

"Just— uhm," He felt a little embarrassed asking for affection. "You're being less clingy? Did your parents say something?" 

"Oh, uhm, yeah I guess I'm still in the 'I'm with my parents' mode." Hyunjin explained, looking at the pipes again. "And I'm just focused on finding something." 

"Okay." Seungmin nodded, but not everything felt right yet. _He would_ _tell me if his parents said anything concerning, right?_ "Well, our cover _is_ being overly affectionate boyfriends, so…" He trailed off, waiting for Hyunjin to smirk and hug him tight and rub his head against Seungmin's or pull him into a kiss or something like that, but he didn’t. Hyunjin just agreed with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes, and grabbed his hand. 

Seungmin frowned. Hyunjin was being… _unresponsive— Shit, so something_ did _happen? When? What should I do now?_

"Anyway, I still don't see anything wrong with the plumbing. You?" 

Seungmin took a second before he shook his head. "No, but—" _should I be upfront or not?_ "but have I done anything wrong?" 

"What? No of course not." Hyunjin said, but it felt too flat, too fake. He leaned in to place a light kiss on Seungmin's cheek, and he rubbed a thumb over his hand, but that too felt too mechanical. While Hyunjin usually was all feeling and no thinking, this was the opposite. It kind of stung. "There, better?" _No._

Seungmin nodded without thinking and his eyes fell on Hyunjin's shirt. He noticed something skin-colored was attached to the neckline. _Is that a microphone? A bugging device?—_

"Great, let's go then." Hyunjin pulled him up and dragged him away. Seungmin was quickly trying to think of a plan as he subtly tried to slow the other down. 

"Wait— I need to use the bathroom first." Seungmin lied and almost rushed to the bathroom as soon as Hyunjin let go. 

_Okay, what to do?_ He thought, feeling his heart pound in his chest _. First of all, Hyunjin's being bugged so I should pretend to believe him. Either yesterday or the day before that something happened and now he's acting like Chan did last Wednesday. Does he want to take me to the lab so they can brainwash me too?_

Seungmin couldn't come up with a solid plan before he thought he should return before Hyunjin or whoever was monitoring would get suspicious. He quickly tried to suppress an irrational amount of anger and worry bubbling up in him before he left the bathroom. 

As soon as he got back, Hyunjin grabbed his hand again and led them outside. Seungmin flinched as Hyunjin pulled on his burned arm, but he didn’t say anything, he needed to think. 

_Okay— we need to prevent us from reaching the lab and we need to get rid of the bugging device— had Chan been bugged too? Shit, is that why we never seem to get info? They're probably checking Chan's phone every day as well. How did we never think of that? Well, because it seemed like something that wouldn't happen in real life— okay I should stop conversing with myself._

Seungmin looked around and saw that Hyunjin was taking an interesting route, a route where not many people would be, but Seungmin recognized that they were indeed heading towards the lab. _Okay, plan?_ It was hard to think straight when adrenaline was pumping through his system and his shoulder hurt, but his need to try and get through to Hyunjin and free him from the bugging device won, so once they reached the path that led behind the abandoned buildings, he pushed Hyunjin against the wall and captured his lips in a desperate kiss. 

Hyunjin seemed a bit startled, but soon relaxed a little again. Seungmin still felt that he wasn't actively participating in the kiss, though, by now he knew what that felt like, but normally he would feel Hyunjin at least melt a little in the kiss, while right now there was nothing. It hurt. 

As Seungmin tried to ignore the lack of participation, he let his hands roam over the other's chest and indeed felt a little wire run down it. _Where is the battery?_ He thought, trying to keep his head cool. His hands roamed down and he noticed Hyunjin was wearing a long shirt. _Is it…?_ His hands lowered towards Hyunjin's butt and… _got it—_

"Not there." Hyunjin whispered and pulled his hands away. _Damnit, I need to distract him somehow_ — The taller suddenly took over control, pushed back at him and turned them a quarter, lips still on his, but still without feeling. Seungmin was now stumbling backwards a bit, his burned shoulder grazing against the wall. He tensed up at the pain and tried to take back the control by turning them around and pushing the other against the wall again, now caging Hyunjin between his arms. He pulled back to breathe for a second and still saw those same dull eyes look at him, barely affected by their makeout session.

“Maybe we should go a bit closer—” Hyunjin was cut off by Seungmin closing the gap again, now deepening the kiss in an attempt to distract him enough to get the bugging device off him. 

It was still painfully obvious by his lack of reciprocation that Hyunjin was focused on something else, probably getting Seungmin to the lab. They kind of rolled over the walls as they both tried to take control, and whenever Seungmin’s hands would get too close to Hyunjin’s behind, the taller tensed up or pushed them away. Seungmin was getting desperate as they were approaching the lab, so when he got Hyunjin against the wall again, he slipped one hand under the other’s shirt close to the wire but not too close, and placed the other hand on Hyunjin’s hip close to where the battery was. He took a deep breath, put his lips to Hyunjin’s ears and whispered a quick ‘sorry’ before he kneed the other in the crotch with just enough force to render him useless for a few seconds and yanked the mic off his shirt and the battery out of his back pocket and made a run for it, away from the lab.

“Ugh— wait!” He heard Hyunjin call out, but Seungmin had his hands over the little microphone while he tried to figure out how to turn it off. He looked behind him to see Hyunjin was already chasing him again, so he quickly turned a corner. He slowed down a bit to focus on shutting that damn device off, but he heard Hyunjin approach, so he just hurriedly yanked the battery/transmitter part off the wire part and threw the parts as far away as he could with his burned baseball arm. It hurt, but he didn’t care at that moment.

Before he could do anything more, he felt Hyunjin ram into his back and grab him tight, arms restricting Seungmin’s. 

“Oof— Let me go, Hyunjin!” Seungmin did his best to wiggle out the harsh grip, ignoring all the pain he felt, both physical and emotional. “Please, they’re not listening anymore!”

Hyunjin was silent and tried to drag him out of the alley Seungmin had run to and towards the lab while Seungmin put all of his weight in trying to stop that, thrashing about as much as he could in the other’s grip. 

“Hyunjin— please, what did they do to you?” In his panicked state it was hard to think clearly, but he remembered Jisung saying that once he began crying, Chan had acted normally again. Seungmin did feel tears prickle in his eyes, but his adrenaline didn’t let him cry full-on, and Hyunjin wasn’t looking at him because he held him from behind. At least he was mildly succeeding in holding Hyunjin back from getting them to the lab, but he _was_ full-on panicking. He hadn't been prepared for _this_ to happen. “Hyunjin, _please_ —” 

Seungmin bit back a scream— he didn’t want the people at the lab to hear them— as Hyunjin bit his burned shoulder and pushed him on the ground. Hyunjin then gripped his bad shoulder and turned him around so he laid on his back, and sat on Seungmin's arms, knees pinning them down harshly. Now Seungmin was crying, from the pain, from the distress, from everything, but he saw through his blurry vision that Hyunjin was looking away and squinting his eyes, probably so he wouldn't see Seungmin cry. 

"Hyunjin, this isn't you—" Seungmin choked out and felt a hand on his mouth. 

"Shut up. I need to get you to the lab whether you want it or not." The older scowled. "And I'm not afraid to use force." He put more weight on his knees and Seungmin whimpered at the pain. Then Hyunjin balled his fist and raised it and Seungmin's fight or flight instinct immediately kicked in. 

"NononopleaseHyunjindon'tdothis." He could barely form sentences as his mind blanked with pure panic, but Hyunjin didn't budge. "Please— _I love you._ " He blurted out and squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of a hard punch, but instead he felt the pressure on his arms lessen. 

He slowly opened his eyes and saw Hyunjin look stunned, so he acted fast— he didn't have time to think— He managed to free his arms and pushed Hyunjin over, scrambled up and ran away as fast as he could, just having enough mind to pick up the parts of the bugging device. 

Seungmin ran and ran, tears blurring his vision as he just ran away from the lab and took as many turns as he could. He couldn't go home, there they would find him. 

He stumbled and tripped a few times and after a while, when his mind had cleared up a little bit, he saw he had run all the way to the other part of town, the part where Jeongin lived. He sincerely hoped Jeongin and Felix were at the younger's place as he frantically rang the doorbell. 

"Jeongin open up, Jeongin open up." He chanted to himself with ragged breath as he looked around to see if anyone had followed him. 

"Wow chill with the doorbell—" As soon as Jeongin opened the door, Seungmin rushed past him, shut the door and collapsed on the floor, all the tension, pain, and adrenaline releasing and catching up on him as he broke down. 

"Shit— Seungmin what's wrong?" Jeongin sounded distressed and Seungmin felt a hand lightly being placed on his shoulder. 

"They've— they've got Hyunjin—" He sobbed, he could barely breathe. _Shit, Hyunjin._ "Fuck— Hyunjin is still there— we— we have to go get him—" Seungmin wanted to stand up and pull his friend along, but a strong grip stopped him. "Jeongin, we have to—" 

"What's going on?" Felix came running downstairs and became pale when he saw Seungmin’s state, he was pulling at Jeongin's arm desperately while crying, but he couldn't muster any strength. 

"Seungmin, you need to calm down and tell us what happened." The younger's calm voice grounded Seungmin, although he seemed to be suppressing his anxiety. " _Breathe,_ for the love of god, breathe." 

"Follow me." Felix joined in and gently cupped Seungmin's head in his hands as he breathed in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth. It seemed like he needed that too. 

Meanwhile Seungmin did his best to follow his friend, but it ended up in him taking three or more uneven breaths through his sobs in the time Felix took one. 

"I'm sorry— I— I screwed up—" He hiccuped and Felix shook his head. 

"You're doing fine, okay? Take your time." He said and continued the breathing exercise for Seungmin, who was gradually calming down. Jeongin watched it play out with both worry and awe. 

"Yeah, I'm sure that it wasn't your fault— that any of us would've done the same, or worse." The younger agreed, and Seungmin couldn't help but let out a sad snort. 

"I should've— I should've listened to my gut and check on him two days ago." Seungmin shook his head, drying the last of his tears. Maybe if he explained things he would cry again, but he would deal with that then.

"Well, at least your gut feeling is right." Jeongin tried. "But you also needed rest, you can't blame yourself for making sure you weren't dying of stress and a brain meltdown. Also, Minho and I told you to take a rest so _if_ you want to blame anyone, it's us. And JYP labs, whatever they've done." 

"Exactly." Felix nodded and hesitated for a moment. "Can you tell us what happened now? Let's sit down, first." 

Seungmin let out a breath and nodded before he followed the two to sit down. He quickly explained what happened, choking up a few times in frustration and regret, not that he knew how he should’ve done better. Felix and Jeongin shared a look and frowned in worry.

“That— that’s not good.” Jeongin made the understatement of the year. “So they’ve brainwashed Hyunjin like they did with Chan? Because this has to be some kind of brainwashing. Hyunjin would _never_ hurt you. Never.”

Seungmin bit his lip at the memory and willed the tears back. That was true, now it was even more likely that the weird behavior slash disease, the water and plumbing were connected, if it wasn’t already confirmed, because what were the chances that the people acting like zombies because of the contaminated water (Seungmin believed that the theorists told the truth that it was because of the water) and some kind of brainwashing were totally unrelated, especially when Hyunjin was brainwashed shortly after the plumbers had visited him. They still needed to figure out the details of what had happened to Hyunjin, but that would come later.

“I— I can’t believe I just left him there…” Seungmin sighed shakily. “Even if he was still brainwashed— I should’ve tried taking him with me or something. Get him to safety—”

“Seungmin.” Jeongin stopped him for what felt like the tenth time today. “He was literally trying to attack you. You couldn’t take that chance, and no one blames you for running away. If you didn’t, they might’ve gotten to you too.”

Seungmin nodded, glad to get support from his friends, although he still felt guilty somehow.

“So what do we do now?” Felix asked, nervously fidgeting with his hands. “We can’t just go to the lab to get Hyunjin, right? We don’t know anything about what’s in there, what they’re capable of.”

“No, but— oh! Of course!” Seungmin’s head had finally cleared up enough for him to remember he had brought the bugging device. “This was on Hyunjin.” He explained as he showed it. “Maybe we can get more information from this? I don’t know anything about this kind of technology, though.”

His friends inspected the device in awe even though it was a simple thing.

“I know a few simple things about coding and stuff, but maybe we should get the theorists involved too?” Felix suggested. “Jisung is already there, and they probably know more about bugging devices.”

Seungmin nodded, glad that his friends were here for him and were coming with good ideas. “Good plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh oh...


	8. You're a hero, Ryujin.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ugh… I feel weird… No more…" That was Hyunjin's voice. Shit, that sounded bad. 
> 
> "It's okay, you can handle another dose. Chan will do it. The weird feeling will be over in an hour or so, maybe more." 
> 
> "An hour?— Fuck—" Seungmin cursed under his breath. Felix felt himself get angry as well, and he didn't get angry quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More action! But we're also finally getting some answers!  
> (Same disclaimer as previous chapter, I'm not an expert so sorry for inaccuracies)  
> Tw minor violence and mention of blood

**we love Channie and Jinnie <3**

_flixie pixie added jeongpin_

_flixie pixie added daengmin_

_flixie pixie added soondoongdorino_

_flixie pixie added number han_

_flixie pixie added spearbinnie_

**jeongpin :** guys if u find anything send it here

 **jeongpin :** hyunjin is compromised too 

**spearbinnie :** shit what happened

**daengmin :** a lot

 **daengmin :** were now w jisung n the theorists

 **daengmin :** but we have solid evidence that the lab is behind it

**soondoongdori :** yeah?

 **soondoongdori :** ill see if i can get my parents to take over but idk

**number han :** so be careful everyone!

 **number han :** keep an eye on eachother

 **number han :** dont leave any1 alone 

**spearbinnie :** will do

**flixie pixie :** short summary : we think hyunjins brainwashed like chan (he acted similar) n the plumbers prob did smth n we know its JYP labs bc hyunjin tried to get seungmin there

**soondoongdorino :** damn

**daengmin :** they still have hyunjin i think n now were thinking of ways to expose the lab

 **daengmin :** but as jisung said

 **daengmin :** be careful bc now they prob know that i know

**flixie pixie :** yes be careful!

**spearbinnie :** yes

 **spearbinnie :** im not afraid to knock ppl out if they touch my friends

**soondoongdorino :** damn right

 **soondoongdorino :** but we have to go now again

**spearbinnie :** contact us if theres anything!

**daengmin :** same here

* * *

“Are you sure you don’t want to go there?” Minho asked as he pocketed his phone and returned to preparing a customer’s order. 

Changbin shook his head. “No, I’m not leaving you alone, we just agreed on that.”

“I don’t think anyone will try to kidnap me here, in a public space. What if they need your big and strong arms?” Minho chuckled, but Changbin frowned, he was getting anxious because things were getting real, but what were ‘things’? What were they up against? What did they need to do? He guessed making a joke was Minho’s way of trying to keep Changbin and himself from spiralling too much into worry for their friends. 

“They have the advantage of numbers, remember, Ryujin, Lia, Yuna, Chaeryeong and Yeji are there too.” He answered and Minho admitted that was true. “And I still don’t want to take the chances, who knows what they’ll do.” He protectively hugged one of Minho’s arms as the older brought someone their order. Minho just smiled and patted his boyfriend’s head.

“I appreciate it Bin, but they really have to be desperate if they barge in here—”

“EVERYONE STOP WHAT THEY’RE DOING!” Someone unfamiliar barged in along with a whole group of others and screamed, frantically waving their arms around. “THIS CAFE IS THE SOURCE OF THE DISEASE!”

“What the—” Minho and Changbin stood bewildered as chaos erupted inside the cafe and people began yelling through each other, yelling theories, threats, insults, everything. “Shit, the cats—” The first thing the barista did was gather as many cats as he could and try to bring them to safety amidst the chaos. “Bin, help me get them to the back!”

_Right_ — Changbin immediately began helping, even though he was _not_ good with cats, he managed to get a few to the back room. Once he got back, he didn’t see Minho anymore and panic struck. 

“Minho!” He called as he dodged a few people who were pushing each other. This was exactly the situation you needed to kidnap someone in a public space, so Changbin desperately pushed through the crowd and cursed his disadvantage in height. “Minho! Where are you?”

“Bin! I’m here!” He heard and whipped his head around until he saw his boyfriend struggling with two people who were trying to attack him or keep him captured and were yelling things at him. “Get out of the cafe!”

“What? No!” Changbin pushed his way to the older and punched one of the people in the face. “Let him go!” He glared at the other, who let Minho go and Changbin quickly grabbed his boyfriend and went to protectively stand in front of him. “Fuck off.”

“Bin…” Minho trailed off and tried to get away from Changbin’s defensive arms that were almost caging him in. 

Changbin turned around and hugged Minho tightly. “No, I’m _not_ leaving you. I’m not letting people hurt you.” He ducked together with Minho and felt an arm around his head when a stray arm flew around and people pushed against the two of them. _Shit, now Minho’s protecting_ me _,_ he thought and again cursed his height and short arms. 

People were still yelling at Minho and trying to pry them apart while Minho and Changbin both took turns shielding the other from the rest. To Changbin’s awe Minho even tried to calm a few customers down and have a polite conversation with them, well, until they laid a hand on Changbin, then he punched them. 

Then the front door suddenly slammed open again.

“POLICE! EVERYONE CALM DOWN! STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ARRESTED!”

A few people immediately stopped and the rest gradually calmed their yelling and fighting too. Changbin heard Minho let out a relieved breath, but he also saw that the cafe was in a pretty bad shape, tables were toppled, drinks were spilled, saucers were broken. _Luckily the cats are okay._

One of the officers approached the two of them and Minho shortly bowed and met them halfway. 

“Officer, thank you for—”

“Lee Minho, you are under the suspicion of having poisoned dozens of townspeople and we need you to come with us to the station.” The officer grabbed his arm harshly as the whole cafe watched, and Minho flinched a little. _What?_

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Changbin stopped them and grabbed the arm of the officer. “Do you even have any evidence? It’s obviously the contaminated water that’s causing the disease or whatever and this cafe doesn’t have that!”

Minho’s eyes widened at the younger and he shook his head, trying to signal him to stay out of it, but Changbin ignored that.

“Sorry sir, we have gotten an anonymous tip _and_ we have heard that the contaminated water has been analyzed and confirmed to be clear of any dangerous substances.”

“ _Bullshit!_ Let it be tested again, _not_ by JYP labs!” 

“Bin—”

“Sir, I’m asking you to be calm and let us do our job, else I’ll have to take you too.” The officer shook his arm loose from Changbin’s grip and started dragging Minho along, roughly pushing him forward, making Minho almost trip. Changbin couldn’t let this happen, what if they would take Minho to the lab? Get him brainwashed too? 

“No, you can’t take him!”

“Changbin, please—”

“No, Minho, they’re obviously compromised— let him go!” Changbin pulled at the officer’s arm, who now let go of Minho and grabbed Changbin, but in the process he shoved Minho to the ground while another officer, who was about a head taller than them and _broad_ , grabbed Minho again, holding Minho’s arms behind his back with just one of his hands.

“Is this man involved too?” The officer holding Minho asked, referring to Changbin.  
  


“No! He is not! He has nothing to do with the cafe.” Minho quickly denied and Changbin opened his mouth to say something, but his boyfriend beat him to it. “It’ll be okay, Bin. I’m innocent, they’re just trying to impede me from helping with the investigation— ugh!”

“Shut up.” The officer holding him pushed him on his knees and gripped his shoulder harshly with his free hand. “We’ll see about that innocence of yours, you scum. _Poisoning the townspeople._ I bet you’ll talk differently when we interrogate you.” He all but spat and pulled Minho’s arms in a painful position for good measure. Changbin couldn’t watch this anymore, so he caught the other officer off guard by pushing him aside and hurling at the big officer, punching him in the face.

“ _Changbin!_ ” Minho gasped and could only look as the officer barely did a step backwards at the punch, even though it caused him to have a bleeding nose. 

“That’s it. You’re coming with us too.” The big officer growled and let Minho go to take a hold of Changbin instead, but Changbin rather had him being tortured by the big guy than Minho. “I’ll take this little one, you take the owner.”

The other officer nodded and did as he said. “The rest of you, leave the cafe! This is now a crime scene.”

“Gosh you’re a dumbass, Bin.” Minho shook his head at him as they were pushed towards the station. “You should’ve just left the cafe.”

“I couldn’t just watch them take you, or hurt you, Min—”

“Shut up. Both of you.”

* * *

“Shit— guys, bad news.” Yuna put her phone down and looked at the others hanging out in her house. 

Felix and Ryujin temporarily stopped their hacking session on the bugging device— apparently it had been a sort of two way communication thing which came together with an earpiece. Ryujin had been learning how to hack for the purpose of exposing JYP labs, and she had gotten good at it, and the rest of the theorists had picked up new skills for that same purpose. For example, Lia had been studying some chemistry to find out what was really in the water. They hadn’t found anything yet, but Felix felt like they were close.

“What is it, Yuna?” Yeji asked, she seemed to have recovered from having drunk the contaminated water. 

“Our contact at the cafe said there was some kind of riot, they were accusing Minho of being responsible for the disease.” Yuna explained. “And even worse, the police came in and dragged him and Changbin to the station. Apparently Changbin had punched an officer.”

_Shit. That’s bad news indeed._ Felix thought anxiously as he heard a few friends curse. The lab was really being desperate, but that meant they were afraid that they would lose, so that was good. 

“Okay, I’ll remove them from the group chat temporarily, just in case.” Jeongin said.

“Oh, and also, another contact went to Hyunjin’s home and saw people staking out there, but we don’t know if he’s home or not.” 

Felix saw Seungmin’s eye twitch and Felix hoped sincerely that he wouldn’t get worked up again, because he had just finally calmed down a little because the theorists came with a solid plan. 

“I can quickly trace his phone, Ryujin taught me.” Yeji grinned and grabbed her laptop to quickly type something. She squinted and typed some more before proudly smiling. “Found it! Hyunjin is still at the lab, and I see Chan left and is heading home.”

That wasn’t ideal, that they were keeping Hyunjin at the lab, and it definitely didn’t help Seungmin’s case. Felix decided to focus on getting evidence to distract himself from all the unpleasant feelings he was feeling. He wanted to be useful, the faster they worked, the faster they could get Hyunjin out of there and focus on helping the sick and brainwashed people. The theorists said that if they would get solid evidence, they could maybe contact the federal government. It sounded wild, the federal government getting involved with something that happened here, in this tiny town with it’s weird name. 

“Seungmin, what are you going to do?” Felix was pulled out of his thoughts by Jeongin’s voice. He saw Seungmin had stood up and was heading towards the door. Felix looked outside and saw Chan walking. _Oh, heck._ Seungmin ignored Jeongin and the rest and stormed outside.

The rest quickly followed and saw Seungmin grab Chan by the collar and stare at him with a furious look that Felix had never seen before on his friend. 

“ _You._ ” He seethed. “What are they doing to Hyunjin?! Why is he still— Where is he?! Did you tip them off about him? Did you help them get him?!” 

Chan looked at him with slightly wide eyes, but he seemed relatively calm and he kept his mouth shut. It looked like he also had some bruises and cuts on his face and wrists and hands. _Where did he get that?_

_“At least deny it!”_ Seungmin yelled and Jisung stepped in and pulled the angry boy away from Chan. 

“That’s enough, Seungmin.” Felix saw that Jisung did his best to stay calm. “Chan can’t help it either, he has been brainwashed too.”

“But— but still—”

“I know it’s hard, it’s fucked up.” Jisung placed his hands on the taller’s shoulders and his eyes shot to Chan’s emotionless face a few times after which he let out a shaky breath. “But— but it won’t help if we yell at Chan, okay?”

Seungmin bit his lip and looked away as he sighed. “You’re right. Sorry, I got carried away.”

“It’s okay, I understand.” Jisung said and frowned when he looked at Chan. "Sorry Chan." 

Chan gave a light nod and walked away while the rest walked back to Yuna's house. Jisung looked sad, although he obviously tried to hide it. 

When they got back, everyone went back to what they were doing with full motivation and they worked the whole day, only taking a short break to eat the food they ordered. Ryujin and Felix had meanwhile found the receipts that JYP labs had ordered different kinds of bugging devices, which had been a lot of work, but it was a small victory, a small piece of solid evidence. Finding out what had been transmitted with the one Seungmin had found was harder, but they were determined to get something. Lia was also closer to getting an idea of what was in the water, with which Seungmin and Chaeryeong were helping. The rest were either resting, they had decided to stay at Yuna's big house, or they were following other leads, contacting people who had been visited by the plumbers or who had recovered from the disease, and they documented and recorded everything. 

They worked like that through the night, and if Jeongin hadn’t reminded them to rest a bit, Felix was sure he and Ryujin would just have worked non-stop. The rest, although short due to their nerves and eagerness to continue, helped them get a clearer mind. It was still hard to find something because even to Ryujin it was new and she didn’t know exactly where to look, but at about 8 in the morning, Ryujin yelled ‘got it!’.

A few people perked up from their temporary sleep-spot while others were still sleeping.

“What? What happened?” Seungmin seemed disoriented, had he even slept?

“I finally managed to trace the signal from the device! I had turned it on for a few minutes a few hours ago, which made it possible for me to, after a lot of work, find the computer it was sending to, and now I’ve managed to get the files too! It's both from the microphone and from the earpiece.” Ryujin explained, a proud grin on her face. 

“You're a hero, Ryujin.” Felix high-fived her.

“Couldn't have done it without you, though, else I would have never found my dumb coding mistakes.” 

The people who were awake cheered for the two of them and gave each other some hugs to celebrate the accomplishment.

“So— so we can use this?” Seungmin asked. “I mean, you can prove this is from JYP labs?”

“Yeah, we even screen-recorded our process.” 

“Oh you guys are really heroes.” He stumbled up and pulled them into a hug again, after which the others followed. 

“Well, you brought the crucial evidence.” Jeongin pointed out and looked at everyone. “So we really did it? We can expose them with this?”

"Let's listen to it and see!" Chaeryeong urged Ryujin and Felix. "Wait— maybe the rest wants to hear it too." 

They quickly woke up the rest, who were all eager to listen to the files as well, and huddled around Ryujin's laptop. Ryujin opened up the folder with the audio files, there were a few for every time it was turned off and on again, and clicked on the first one. 

_"Test, test."_ It sounded. _"Is it working?"_

_"Yes, we're receiving signal."_ A different voice spoke. _"It seems the portable ones work well too."_

_"Can you maybe go outside? Check if it works from a distance too? And if you can hear us."_

_"Sure."_

Then they heard footsteps for a while and then they heard them confirming the connection was fine and they could hear each other. It also confirmed that they could hear what was sent to the earpiece as well. 

"Okay, that was the first file, now the second one..." Ryujin said and opened the second one. 

_"Okay, it's on…"_ Someone mumbled. _"You guys ready with him?—"_

_‘Riing.’_ The whole group jumped at the sudden familiar ringing of a phone sounding on the recording. _That's Hyunjin's ringtone, right?_

_"Shit— who's calling him?— Chan! Who is this?"_

_"Uhm—"_ Felix heard some gasps from his friends. That was Chan's voice. _"That's Seungmin, his boyfriend."_

Ryujin paused it for a second as they all looked at Seungmin, who quickly clarified that this was the day Hyunjin had been with the plumbers, and this was right after they finished. _So the plumbers took Hyunjin?_ Felix thought, and saw Yuna write things down. 

"Do you have anything to confirm that the plumbers visited Hyunjin that day?" She asked and Seungmin nodded. 

"I have screenshots of Hyunjin's texts with them." 

"Okay, great, send them to us, because the time and date are on the files too." Ryujin said. "Let's continue." 

_"Okay, we should take care of that. We can wait with the last dose, he needs to act natural. Also, turn the device off until we need it."_

_"Will do. Okay, where is the off-button…"_

_"Let's first text the boyfriend and see if we can handle things that way, Chan, think of—"_

The recording ended there, damn it, but luckily there were more files. Felix shot a look at Seungmin, who seemed to be getting angry again, so he massaged his shoulders for a bit. 

"I can't believe they've not only kidnapped Hyunjin, but they're also using Chan to make it look less suspicious." Jisung breathed, he seemed angry as well, so Felix massaged him too. 

"Yeah, do you think they made up the 'having dinner with his parents' excuse?" Seungmin asked. "Chan knows about his parents." 

"If he did, they forced him." Jisung stated the obvious. "Let's listen to the next one." 

Ryujin did as he said and opened the next file. 

_"It's on again. Are you guys done with him now?"_

_"Should we up the dosage for him now that we can with this version? He kind of snapped out of it really quickly."_

_"Yes, that would be a good idea. It seems this guy's really whipped for his boyfriend or something."_

_"Yeah? You think that's why he snapped out of it? Could be, Chan said it was because he saw his friend crying."_

Felix looked at Jisung for a moment, and saw him looking down. 

_"Speaking of Chan… maybe_ you _should give the extra dose to your friend, for being_ bad _and trying to destroy our equipment. After that you can help yourself to an extra dose."_

_Hmm?_ This caught Felix’s attention. _What is this about?_

_"Haha! Nice one! That's what he gets for trying to betray us. He gets to betray his friend."_

Felix shared a surprised look with the rest and saw Seungmin and Jisung angrily hold each other's hands, probably to squeeze their anger out. 

_"Ugh… I feel weird… No more…"_ That was Hyunjin's voice. Shit, that sounded bad. 

_"It's okay, you can handle another dose. Chan will do it. The weird feeling will be over in an hour or so, maybe more."_

"An _hour?—_ Fuck—" Seungmin cursed under his breath. Felix felt himself get angry as well, and he didn't get angry quickly. 

It was relatively silent for a moment on the recording, some mumbling and groaning coming from Hyunjin and Chan, but that was it. 

_"Okay, let's get this thing on him…"_

Some more rustling and groaning followed. 

_"And the earpiece…"_

_"OKAY LISTEN UP!"_ Someone suddenly shouted, making everyone jump. _"Hwang Hyunjin. You will listen to_ us _, the people from JYP labs. Both here in person and in the instructions you hear through your earpiece. You will do as we say. You will not mention anything that happened here, nor that you've been here. You will act…"_

The man listed all kinds of orders, including that he should act as if he had dinner with his parents, that, when he's alone, he should report everything he's doing, and that he should avoid emotional situations with his friends and boyfriend. The man also told him that more instructions would follow, after which they sent him to test the earpiece and if Hyunjin would listen to the orders. They heard Hyunjin groan and babble nonsense a few times, he didn't really sound okay, but indeed after about an hour of low activity (on the file, they skipped all silent parts, else they’d be here all day), Hyunjin began sounding more normal, although a bit emotionless. 

The file was really long, because after a while they sent Hyunjin home and he just had dinner (without his parents) and reported everything he did, but nothing interesting happened. At night he shut it off and they continued to the next file, which was even longer than the previous one. Ryujin saw that there was a lot of silence in the file, and that made sense since it was the day Seungmin and Hyunjin were supposed to rest. The only thing they heard was that Hyunjin said Seungmin texted him, and he narrated everything Seungmin said and what he texted back while the people at the lab recommended him to suggest that they both rest. 

They quickly skimmed through the file, but found nothing interesting again. Lia and Yeji had fallen asleep and woken up in the process, which Felix understood, he had almost fallen asleep a few times too. They also had ordered and eaten some lunch because it was already afternoon.

"Oh damn, we have some witness interviews to do, so we have to go, but you guys good luck!" Yuna announced and dragged Yeji with her. 

They waved at them before they focused on the laptop again. Now it was time for the last file in the folder, it was long too, but not nearly as long as the previous one. 

"Oh gosh…" Seungmin sighed when they heard Hyunjin tell the people from the lab what he and his friends were texting about, that Jisung would visit the theorists, that Felix and Jeongin would be together too, and Minho and Changbin would be at the cafe. 

_"Great. Suggest that you and Seungmin think together too."_ Someone from the lab ordered. 

Hyunjin narrated himself again as he did what they said. 

_"Okay, listen closely now. When Seungmin comes over, try to act naturally but don't get yourself in any emotional situations. Your main goal is to get him to the lab. Suggest that you spy on us again, but now at the back, see if we have any suspicious things going on there. Make sure you don't have to kiss him too much._

_And I repeat, your main goal is getting Kim Seungmin to the lab. You may use violence if necessary, but make sure no one sees you. When you are close enough to the lab, say something about the defect in the fence next to the red paint spot on the pole."_

_Shit,_ violence _?_ Hyunjin repeated a few things the man from the lab had said and then it was silent until they heard the doorbell ring. _There Seungmin comes…_

It really felt like an invasion of privacy as they heard Seungmin give Hyunjin a smooch as a greeting and happily talk to him, and Ryujin paused again.

"Are you okay with us listening to this?" She asked Seungmin. "You can listen to it alone if you want." 

Their friend bit his lip as he thought for a moment. "No… it's fine, I think. Yeah, it's fine. It's a bit embarrassing, but I trust you guys and I also think this really shows how scary their brainwashing is. I think this is solid evidence." 

Ryujin nodded and pressed play again. They heard Hyunjin and Seungmin talk for a bit until they heard Seungmin offer to tell their friends about their plan to go to the lab. 

_"Try to stop it. Say they don't have a cover and that bringing more people is more suspicious."_

_"Agree that you're overthinking."_

Hyunjin did exactly as they said, after which they heard the two began inspecting the plumbing. 

_"You don't have to rush him, he'll find nothing and then you can go to the lab—"_

_"Hyunjin? Everything okay?"_ Seungmin sounded, and Felix felt his heart drop for his friend. He looked at him to see him looking down, playing with his sleeves. 

_"Agree about your parents and say your mind is on finding evidence."_

_"Grab his hand and agree, don't make it too emotional. If he asks again, give him a short kiss."_

They were really spelling out a lot that Hyunjin had to do, and Felix wondered if that had been the same with Chan. They did say 'the portable thing' a few files earlier, so maybe they had used something else for Chan. 

Seungmin gave some comments for context as they listened, for example when he knew there was something off and what his motivations were for the things he did. 

It was awkward to listen to the sounds of them kissing and stuff, and he didn't know if the fact that from both sides it was fake (or at least trying to be fake) made it better or not. 

_"Maybe we should go a bit closer—"_ Hyunjin was cut off by muffled sounds, probably Seungmin kissing him again. 

_"Try to be subtle, you can take your time getting him here, but if you notice him getting suspicious, do not be afraid to use force. We need to get him here at all costs."_

A silence followed and Ryujin forwarded a little until they heard some unintelligible whispering after which Hyunjin groaned. Then there was rustling and muffled sounds. 

_"Hyunjin? Is everything okay? Hyunjin? Say 'Seungmin, stop' if we need to come help, say 'Seungmin, I need a breather' if everything—"_

That was where the recording stopped. Everyone was silent as they processed everything they had just heard. They had listened to hours of recording, and if they hadn't skipped the silences and hadn't played it at a slightly higher speed, they would've been there for another day. 

"So… this is the evidence we need?" Jeongin asked. 

“Oh, definitely.” Chaeryeong nodded. “I mean, we also have the connection between JYP labs and Park Chemicals. We’ll wait for the witness interviews to be done before we contact the government, and we also still have to hope they will actually listen. But with _this_ our chances are high.”

They nodded and Felix saw everyone was anxious and excited at the same time. 

“Is there anything more we can do?” Seungmin asked.

“Hmm. I don’t think so, we have things covered from here.” Chaeryeong smiled. “I don’t think we’ll get any further with the water analysis before the interviews are done, and I also think we all want to send that email as fast as possible. We’ll handle the organizing, you hard workers can go rest. We’ll contact you if we have any updates.”

Felix didn’t know if he would be able to sleep, and he saw that his friends seemed to think the same, but they also complied, not really having any energy left to think hard and code or look through endless websites and try to understand things you didn’t know anything about. 

"Oh, guys, I was thinking…" Jisung began. "Should we try to, like, take back Chan and Hyunjin? Try to snap them out of their brainwash and hide them?" 

They looked around and thought about the idea for a moment. 

"Hmm. Let's not push things. We don't know for sure if the government will respond and if the lab is waiting for us to visit Chan or Hyunjin." Lia said. "Where are they now?" 

"Let me check…" Ryujin got the phone tracing thing back up. "They're both at the lab building, and it seems Minho and Changbin are still at the station." 

" _What? Still?_ These motherf—" Jeongin just stopped himself from swearing. "They're taking hostages! They really are desperate." 

"Yes, so we'll work as fast as we can, but we can handle it with the five of us. Else it'll only be chaotic." Chaeryeong stood up and led them upstairs. "You can stay here for safety and rest in the guest room, and please do. We'll tell you if there's any developments." 

The four of them looked at each other and they wanted to protest, but the stern look the girls gave them was enough to persuade them, so they nodded. If Felix was honest, he was too tired to object, but not to thank the girls for their amazing help. They were thanked back with just as much enthusiasm. 

As they reached the guest room, Felix immediately fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving forward now!!


	9. Fuck JYP labs for real.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was chaos outside of the room, people were yelling and he heard some things being broken. He also heard things come from outside, and his brain was clear enough to open the blinds and look outside. He saw a few black vans parked outside and along the street, and some people with what Chan thought were bulletproof vests who were barging in and dragging coworkers out. Hey— are that Jisung, Seungmin, and some of the theorists? 
> 
> Before Chan could do anything, someone slammed the door open and rushed in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit from Chan's POV, some minbin, and stressed out Jisung  
> We're getting emotional...

"Hyunjin? Is everything okay? Hyunjin? Say 'Seungmin, stop' if we need to come help, say 'Seungmin, I need a breather' if everything is going well." Chan heard some panic, but he couldn't get himself to care. 

There was static noise on the other side. 

"Hyunjin? Hyunjin?" 

"It's off. Shit— guys, it's go time, we need to…" 

Chan stopped listening as a few of his coworkers rushed out. He felt a little uneasy for some reason, maybe because of the chaos, but it felt deeper or something. 

A while later, they came back, dragging a sniffling and struggling Hyunjin with them. It did something to Chan's heart, but it was vague. They tied his friend up— it's his friend, right? Yeah— and forced him to drink their _damned_ creation. 

"Fuck, guys, Kim Seungmin escaped." Someone said and angrily turned to Hyunjin. "Where is he?! Where did he go?!" 

"I don't know… He could have gone anywhere…" Hyunjin mumbled, his struggling getting weaker. 

"Fuck!" The man threw some papers on the ground. "Guys. Set in emergency protocol, and quickly, before the boss kills us." 

"Get the group to the cafe! Get the extra dose for the officers! Keep Hyunjin _here,_ and…" 

Chan tuned out the chaos again, it wasn't directed at him, until someone grabbed him and ordered him to take an extra dose. He didn’t want to take an extra dose, but he did, after which he stumbled to use the bathroom. There he looked at the clock. _Oh, it’s almost time to go home._

Chan washed his hands and flinched a little at the water running over the cuts on his hands. He couldn’t clearly remember why he hadn’t taken care of them yet. _Oh, right, orders are more important._

He waited a few minutes to see if he got any orders, but everyone was just running around and frantically typing on the computers. He looked at the clock again, _time to go home._

He walked home. The first part he stumbled, but the effects of one dose wore out after about ten minutes. He was a bit hungry. Suddenly someone grabbed him by his collar and began yelling at him. It was Seungmin, but Chan hadn’t gotten what he was saying, something about Hyunjin and helping get him or something. Yes, Chan had done that, but it wasn’t like he had _wanted_ that, he just had to. He stayed silent because that was the order, however much it felt wrong.

_“At least deny it!”_ Seungmin yelled at him, and suddenly Jisung appeared to calm Seungmin down. Chan looked around to see a few other friends and the theorists there too. 

“I know it’s hard, it’s fucked up.” Jisung seemed to try to calm down Seungmin and his eyes shot to Chan’s face a few times, he seemed troubled and something inside Chan churned. “But— but it won’t help if we yell at Chan, okay?”

Was it the initial effects of the dose Chan had just taken that made him feel weird, bad and good at the same time, but bad about himself and good for his friends, or was it something else?

Seungmin apologized and Jisung voiced his understanding, but frowned when he faced Chan again. Chan didn’t like that, he should get out before he got emotional, that was an order.

“Sorry Chan.” The boy said, and Chan nodded and walked away, his heart beating a little faster for some reason. 

  
  


Suddenly Chan’s phone rang. How long had he been home already? He wasn’t hungry anymore. That damn brainwash substance or whatever they had called it really messed with his brain, he felt so emotionless. He hated it, but not really because he felt nothing. It was weird, everything was weird— he should pick up his phone.

_“Chan, come to the lab right away! Don’t talk to anyone on your way unless you’re telling them you forgot something at work.”_

Before Chan could respond, they hung up. _Finally an order,_ he thought as he walked to the lab again. Having orders was nice because then his brain was working, otherwise it felt like time was a blur and the only thing he could force himself to do were things that were necessary, like eat, sleep, and use the bathroom.

At the lab everyone was still talking and running about. Chan got some snippets of conversations, like that they had successfully captured Minho and Changbin too, they were at the police station, but they were still thinking of a solid plan to get rid of the suspicion that was definitely on them now. 

They asked Chan if he had seen his friends when he went home, and he didn’t want to answer, but he did. 

“Damnit! They’re with the theorists… Of course they are…”

Chan walked away, his legs took him where he had last seen Hyunjin. Minho and Changbin weren’t there, unfortunately, or fortunately? Chan didn’t know, but he couldn’t get himself to care. 

A while later, they were brought to separate rooms with enough brainwash substance for a day and Chan was ordered to take a dose every five hours, and after having slept to take two, and if he used the bathroom, he needed to go back here as soon as he was done. He imagined Hyunjin had to do the same. Chan recognized the rooms to be offices cleared of all personal stuff. There were windows to the other offices and outside, but the blinds on them were shut. He wasn’t ordered to open them, and it wasn’t absolutely necessary, so he didn’t. 

Another while later, someone came to bring some food and some water. 

Time passed by without Chan noticing much until he began to feel sleepy. There wasn't really anywhere to sleep properly besides a small two-seater. He looked at the clock to see it was time to take another dose. He didn't want to, but he had to. While he grabbed the flask which contained the substance, he wondered how Minho and Changbin were doing. If they had to sleep at the station or not. After that, he drank the substance, laid down on the couch and waited until he fell asleep. 

* * *

After a half-assed interrogation, Minho and Changbin were thrown in some cell and had to await further instructions. They had of course protested, because this didn't seem completely legal, but then again, they didn't know much about laws and rules, and it was also the case that they were probably dealing with brainwashed officers. 

Changbin was huffing and pouting next to Minho on the uncomfortable wooden bench, and it would be cute if they weren't in this situation— oh, who was Minho kidding? It would always be cute. 

"It's your own fault that you're here." Minho commented, leaning his elbows on his knees. 

"I know and I don't regret it. I'm just mad we have to be here at all." Changbin grumbled. 

"We probably have it better than Hyunjin and Chan?" Minho leaned back now, stretching his arms above himself. 

"Yeah? Do they have to sit in some crappy cell on some crappy wooden bench with one crappy window, a crappy toilet that smells crappy, and a view on some crappy hallway?" Changbin shot back. "We'll probably also get crappy food, if we'll even get any." 

Minho snorted and let out a breathy laugh. Changbin's whining had always been entertaining, it always managed to somehow cheer him up. 

"Maybe not, although if they're keeping them at the lab, maybe they'll get crappy food." He shrugged and grabbed his boyfriend's hand. "But are we brainwashed? No… not yet? And do we have each other? Yes. So, although I may still have a crappy view, you can choose to have a good one." He teased and saw Changbin’s mouth drop open. 

"I can't believe you!" Changbin let go of his hand and pushed him lightly. "Sometimes I forget why I'm dating you." 

Minho laughed and after a moment, Changbin couldn't help but join. 

"But— okay, you _do_ have a point in that we're not brainwashed and we're together." The younger admitted and took Minho's hand again. "See? You're glad I punched that officer too." 

Minho barked out a laugh. "I'm only hoping they'll forget that after all of this is over, but I guess we're both right." He leaned towards his boyfriend and kissed him on his cheek, hoping to convey how glad he actually was that he had stood up for Minho and they were together now. Else Minho would just have been worried that Changbin might have been taken on his way to the rest or somewhere else. 

Minho was startled out of his trance by someone clearing his throat. 

"Here is your food for tonight. Enjoy." The man wanted to walk away, but Changbin stood up and stopped him. 

"Wait! Are there any developments? Any news? Do we have to sleep here?" 

"No news. Count on it that you'll have to sleep here." 

" _Here_ here?" 

"Yes. Good night." 

With that, the man walked away and Changbin slumped down and made a face at the food and water. 

"I can't believe this." He sighed and brought their food to Minho. 

"There there." Minho fondly patted his head, he tried to make the best of things. "You can use me as a bed." 

Changbin looked up at him and pouted a little. "But what about you? You always say my belly is like a pillow." 

Minho laughed and swung an arm around the younger. "I'm not taking objections. You're used to a more luxurious lifestyle, so you'll get the luxurious treatment here as well. All for my spoiled Binnie." 

Changbin huffed something inaudible, his cheeks getting red, which was a warm sight for Minho. Especially in serious circumstances where he couldn't do anything about it, he liked to be a little silly, because why not? They couldn't do anything besides wait, so why not lift the mood a little? 

Minho felt even warmer when Changbin snuggled closer as they ate the food. After that, they just snuggled and joked around a bit until they got tired. Minho was leaning against the wall with Changbin lying on his chest. It was a bit uncomfortable, but Minho guessed he couldn’t get any better than this.

“Are you comfortable?” He asked his sleepy boyfriend. 

“Hmm… A bit. As comfortable as I can get.” Changbin mumbled and pushed himself up a little. “Thanks, Min.”

“Anything for you.” Minho whispered back and kissed the top of the younger’s head.

“Are you at least a bit comfortable?” Changbin turned half on his stomach and half on his side and looked up at Minho, it was cute. 

“I’ll probably wake up with a sore back and neck, but at least I’m holding something incredibly soft.” He answered and hugged his boyfriend tighter. “Good night kiss?”

Changbin nodded, his eyelids almost falling shut. Then he slung his arms around Minho's neck. “Pull me up?”

Minho fondly snickered and pulled the smaller up so their faces were within reach and Changbin was basically straddling him, and captured Changbin's small but full lips with his own. Their lazy kiss spread warmth through Minho, which amplified his tiredness, but also his comfort. Like that, they slowly fell asleep in each other's arms. 

* * *

In the morning Chan reluctantly took two doses of the damned substance. There were now two doses left, and Chan secretly hoped that they wouldn't be refilled. 

A little later someone came to bring breakfast. Chan ate it, but after he did it he could barely remember it. 

He needed to use the bathroom, so he went there. There he came across Hyunjin, his friend. He wanted to be with him for longer, but it wasn’t an order and it wasn't absolutely necessary, so he didn't. 

Before Chan knew it, it was already afternoon. He only knew it because he was getting hungry, and luckily someone came to bring lunch. It was less than what would still his hunger and he wondered how many others they needed to feed. Chan hoped he could get out of here soon, he was getting fed up with feeling and doing nothing. 

  
  


He was again pulled out of his half-dead state when it was about time to take another dose, it was already evening. There was chaos outside of the room, people were yelling and he heard some things being broken. He also heard things come from outside, and his brain was clear enough to open the blinds and look outside. He saw a few black vans parked outside and along the street, and some people with what Chan thought were bulletproof vests who were barging in and dragging coworkers out. _Hey— are that Jisung, Seungmin, and some of the theorists?_

Before Chan could do anything, someone slammed the door open and rushed in. 

"They're after our formula!" His coworker yelled and grabbed the two flasks and rushed out again. 

_Thank God I can't drink it now,_ Chan thought, but an order was an order so he was tempted to go look somewhere else for a dose, but was he allowed to exit the room for that long? His brain started to hurt from this contradiction, what was more important? Which order should he follow? 

Again, before he could decide anything, someone barged in. Now it wasn't a coworker, but one of the harnessed people, and he now saw that the harnesses were embroidered with the logo of the federal government. Chan felt a sudden panic shoot through his body, he didn't want to be kidnapped or whatever was happening, but if these people were contacted by his friends, maybe it was fine. The man searched the room as Chan stood frozen. 

"They took the flasks from here a while ago." Chan blurted out, his brain wasn't working optimally, but if it was to help work against the lab, Chan didn't mind. He was just glad the substance was wearing off and that he managed to override the block in his brain. 

The man stopped and looked at him for a second. "Do you know where they keep them?" 

"Not exactly, but I think upstairs somewhere." Chan answered after a pause of trying to override the block again. The man squinted at him, he probably didn't know whether to trust him or not. 

"Why are you helping me? You're still gonna have to come with us." 

Another short pause. "I just want to get out of here and not have to drink any brain-affecting substances anymore." Chan sighed and let himself be dragged out of the room after a shrug from the man. 

"Guys! This one says the flasks are upstairs!" The man announced as he continued to guide Chan outside. Chan saw Hyunjin being pushed forward a few meters in front of them too. He hoped his head felt better than Chan’s own, constant doses of something that fucked with your brain for more than a week wasn’t exactly nice.

When they got outside, Chan immediately heard the familiar screaming of his friends, and he couldn’t help but smile. He felt happy, but a heavy feeling of guilt was slowly creeping up on him as his mind slowly but surely cleared up. 

He saw Hyunjin wanting to run to his friends, but he was stopped by the person holding him.

“We can’t let you go yet.” The man holding Chan explained when he saw Chan looking at Hyunjin. “We first have to question everyone.”

Chan nodded, but couldn't help but want to say something to his friends. 

"I'm sorry, guys, I'm really sorry for how things went." He apologized as his guilt was still building up. 

"No, it's okay— it wasn't your fault, you couldn't know what would happen." Jisung quickly assured, and Seungmin nodded frantically. 

"I'm sorry too, Chan." He said, and before Chan could protest, he was dragged into one of the vans. 

* * *

After the van with Chan and Hyunjin left for the police station, Jisung and Seungmin headed that direction too. The people from the government had confiscated the Strayville police station for the time being because their buildings, just like everything else, were too far away from Strayville and they couldn’t have everyone too scattered around. Jisung hoped it would all fit.

At the police station they would meet with Jeongin, Felix, Ryujin and Yuna, who were already there to help Minho and Changbin out. 

Jisung was shaking as they walked and he unconsciously grabbed Seungmin's hand to calm his nerves about everything. He was still nervous for Chan and Hyunjin, he sincerely hoped they wouldn't be treated badly and they would take care of them. 

"They're in good hands now. I think." Seungmin whispered and squeezed his hand, but Jisung saw the obvious nerves on his face too. "And Minho and Changbin will definitely be fine. Look." Seungmin pointed forward to where the two boyfriends stood outside the station along with Jeongin and Felix. 

Jisung immediately ran at them and jumped on his two friends to squeeze them tight. For the umpteenth time today he was at the brink of tears, but he forced himself to keep it in. 

"Are you guys okay?" He asked as he blinked away the wetness in his eyes. 

"I'm kind of sore from sleeping on a crappy bench, but that was the worst about it." Minho smiled, which eased Jisung. "At least I had a soft blanket." 

"For me the worst was the toilet…" Changbin whined and pulled a face, making the rest smile a little. 

Jisung felt better now that their friend group was almost complete and he was sure Chan and Hyunjin weren't in the hands of JYP labs anymore, but they still had to wait, and he didn't know if the fact that they had to sleep soon was good or bad. He didn't want to leave his friends now at least. 

"Shall we stay together tonight too?" Jeongin asked before Jisung could. "Ryujin said they'll notify us when there are updates on Chan and Hyunjin." 

"Do they even sleep…" Felix breathed. "I guess they get energy from the fact that they were right about everything." 

"We can stay at my house, it's not that close to the police station or anything, but there's enough room for everyone and we can drive if necessary." Changbin suggested and everyone agreed, so they started walking. 

They filled each other in about what happened on their parts, but the conversation ended soon after because everyone was still tired. Jisung was going from friend to friend to hug them while walking, because however inconvenient it was, Jisung needed it to not break down in the middle of the street. 

  
  


At Changbin’s, Changbin and Minho took Changbin’s room, Seungmin and Jeongin took Changbin’s sister’s room, and Jisung and Felix the guest room to sleep in. Jisung was glad Felix was an avid cuddler like him, so they could hold each other tightly, which kept him somewhat calm. 

He was frantically looking at his phone, waiting for updates from the theorists, but they didn’t come.

“Let’s sleep and keep our phones on full volume, it’s no use checking every minute, although I understand.” Felix pulled Jisung in a tighter hug and Jisung sighed. “Are you okay, Sungie?” Felix asked as he soothingly stroked a hand over Jisung’s back. 

“Kinda. More than before, but still fucking nervous.” Jisung sighed, he hoped his thoughts wouldn’t keep him from falling asleep. “I just hope we can see them soon.”

“Me too.” The other nodded while he kept softly massaging Jisung. It helped Jisung fall asleep, and eventually his tiredness won, because before he could think too many thoughts, he drifted off to dream about Chan and Hyunjin.

* * *

It was taking too damn long to get updates, in Jisung’s opinion. In the meantime Seungmin had been called to give a statement at the station too, but for the rest the only update they had gotten from the theorists was that it had finally been Chan and Hyunjin’s turn to be questioned, and that the theorists had done their best to convince the government to be lenient for Chan if he promised to testify against the lab. 

That was good, right? The theorists could be very persuading and it sounded very reasonable, but still Jisung was nervous. It was quite a workout, being so anxious all the time. 

_Ding. Buzz. Buzz._ Everyone’s phones went off and they all grabbed them at lightspeed.

“They say both Chan and Hyunjin are done with their hearing now and they’re moving them to the hospital to examine the effects of the brainwashing stuff.” Changbin read aloud. "Chan will also not be prosecuted in exchange for that he testifies. Hyunjin has accepted to testify too." 

“Can we visit them?! Can we visit them?!” Jisung frantically asked as he typed to ask exactly that. He nervously awaited the answer. _Can’t they type faster?_ — _Buzz._

“ _‘Not right now, but probably later?’_ ” Jisung read the text and pocketed his phone immediately. “Okay, let’s go then! We'll wait there.” 

  
  


They stuffed themselves in Changbin’s parents’ car and Minho speeded to the hospital. They all but ran inside even though they had no idea where to find Chan and Hyunjin. Luckily they found Lia, who led them to the room where their friends were being examined. They couldn't go in yet, unfortunately, but they were allowed to wait just outside. 

  
  


After almost five breakdowns in anticipation of seeing Chan and Hyunjin and because Seungmin had joined them again, someone finally came out of the room and they all jumped up. 

"Whoah, uhm, I see you're eager to see your friends." Some woman who wasn't Chan or Hyunjin said. "You can see Hyunjin soon, but we're still examining Chan. The resources here aren't the best, but we can work with it. 

Anyway, maybe you already knew, but your friends have been exposed to continuous doses of brain-affecting substances, and it's slowly wearing off, but it can suddenly act up again. We're not completely sure about everything yet, but miss Lia here has already helped us a lot. Hyunjin is about done, but you have to be more careful with Chan, he may get confused or inactive or have sudden weird moods for longer after this."

_Fuck,_ Jisung thought. _Fuck JYP labs for real._

"Can you do anything about it?" Changbin asked. 

The doctor shook her head. "All we can do is wait, but we're fairly sure that it will be gone after enough time. How much that is, we can't say." She gave a sympathetic smile. "In better news, we _are_ on our way to developing something to help against the effects caused by the contaminated water." 

Jisung nodded shakily, it was hard processing all this when the only thing he could think about was seeing his friends again. He couldn't be eased until he saw them, even though it seemed like they were fine and they weren't treated badly. 

"Anyway, I'll get your friend for you now." The doctor said and disappeared inside the room again. 

Only when Jisung heard a few of his friends gasp he realized what that meant. They would see Hyunjin! 

When indeed their tall friend peeked his head out before fully exiting the room, everyone immediately rushed at him to embrace him. Jisung felt so overwhelmed suddenly that he couldn't help but cry as he felt Hyunjin's hand shortly stroke the back of his head. He had kept it in for too long. 

"I'm sorry— I'm sorry, Hyunjin." He heard Seungmin sob. "I'm sorry I didn't go check on you after— after my burn. I'm sorry I ran away and— and let the lab take you for a second time. I'm sorry—" 

"Minnie, stop—" Hyunjin was crying as well, but he smiled gratefully when the rest gave one last squeeze before they let him go to give the two of them their moment. Instead, they all held each other as they watched the two. 

Jisung saw that Seungmin had gripped his boyfriend as tight as he could and he was crying into Hyunjin's shoulder as Hyunjin caressed a hand along Seungmin's nape. It was weird to see Hyunjin be the calmer of the two, but Jisung guessed it was the brainwash. 

"It's not your fault." The taller soothed while sniffling himself. "If you went to check on me, they could've taken you too. And you didn't know if I would attack you again back there, I understand everything you did." 

"And Seungmin you provided the most important evidence with that device!" Jeongin exclaimed, hiccuping because he was crying as well. Even Minho and Changbin had watery eyes. 

Hyunjin looked up in surprise and a tiny smile formed through his tears. "See? It went well in the end, I didn't go through it for nothing." 

Seungmin shook his head on the other's shoulder as he kept sobbing. "No…" He protested, it wasn't clear what he meant, but Jisung understood. 

“It’s not your fault…” Hyunjin repeated and softly swayed them when Seungmin’s shoulders wouldn’t stop shaking. “I think they had spiked my drink during the chaos of when the coffee spilled. They had just planned it well.” He sighed and nuzzled his nose in Seungmin’s neck. “I’m sorry for scaring you too.”

Again the younger shook his head, after which he finally looked up and cupped Hyunjin’s cheek in his hand as he slowly calmed down. “You couldn’t— you couldn’t do anything about that. I’m just glad you’re back, and you’re safe.” They stared at each other lovingly for another moment, Hyunjin wiping away Seungmin’s last few tears. “I love you, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin’s eyes widened a bit before he smiled warmly, tears pooling in his eyes again. “Gosh— I love you too, Seungmin. I’m— I’m still a little out of it, but I love you too, so much.”

They hugged and Hyunjin motioned for everyone to join again, which they gladly did. Jisung noticed he himself was on the verge of crying again. Just then, the door creaked open again and Chan’s head peeked out. He looked kind of scared.

“Uhm… Hi, guys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little cliffhanger... But we're slowly wrapping things up! They've reunited <3


	10. Stay with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Anyone else have any further questions right now?" Chan asked and everyone looked around. Right. Jisung was pulled out of the warm feelings and felt his nerves resurface.
> 
> He bit his lip and opened his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. He wanted to ask about the kiss again, but he didn’t know if Chan was sick of talking about that, or if he didn't want to talk in front of everyone or if he somehow already answered subtly and Jisung just didn't get it—
> 
> "I think Jisung still wants to ask something." Minho announced and Jisung got a bit of a deja vu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More being emotional and some sappyness... more answers (a lot of dialogue because a lot will be explained dkgfh)  
> Merry Christmas eve to those who celebrate it!!

“Uhm… Hi, guys.” Chan timidly waved and looked at the ground. 

Now Jisung burst out into tears again and stumbled to pull their oldest friend into a hug along with the rest. He heard Chan let out a surprised sound, so he squeezed even harder. It had been too long since they had seen the _real_ Chan, not brainwashed or otherwise compromised. Jisung was even lucky, having spent that one Sunday with Chan where he acted relatively normal until that call came, but still Jisung felt his whole body jerk as he sobbed his eyes out. 

“Guys, guys— don’t cry…” Chan was sobbing as well. “Minho? Changbin? Even you two?”

“Of course!” Changbin exclaimed. “Gosh, Chan, we all were so confused and worried for you…”

“And we barely slept the past two nights…” Minho’s voice was small as he tried to stop crying. 

A small silence fell as everyone tightly hugged each other and especially Chan. No one could get any sound out as they all let the anxiety, stress and other negative feelings flow out with their tears. 

It felt like an eternity passed until Chan slowly let go and the rest scattered too, sighing and wiping at their wet cheeks. Jisung was still crying, though, he somehow couldn’t stop, so he held onto whoever was standing next to him as they all went to sit down in the lobby of the hospital.

“I’m sorry for not telling you guys anything until it was too late.” Chan began, looking at his feet. “I’m sorry you guys had to worry about me so much, I’m sorry that I helped them get Hyunjin, and I’m sorry I couldn’t help fix this. I’m also sorry that I made everything even more confusing by defending the lab even when I wasn’t brainwashed. I just— I thought I could fix it myself, but I— I didn’t know…” He let out a long and deep sigh. “I should’ve done a lot of things better—”

Chan stopped when Jisung let out a loud whimper. He now noticed he had started crying harder, he just disliked Chan apologizing so much. He half hid his head in his hands in embarrassment.

“Jisung, what’s wrong? Why are you so upset?—” The older stood up and approached Jisung, but stopped. “Oh, is it— I— I hurt you especially, didn’t I?” Jisung felt a hesitant hand on his knee and he looked through his fingers to see Chan looking worried. “I’m sorry—”

“No— Don’t— don’t apologize.” Jisung could barely bring it out through his sobs. “I’m— I’m— It’s because— because— you—” He was struggling with both his words and his breathing. _Okay, I can’t breathe._

“Okay— Okay— Jisung, Sungie, breathe.” Chan wasn’t necessarily calm, but Jisung just noticed in his own panic that he was doing his best. “Try to take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth.” 

Chan himself set the example and Jisung managed to break his frantic breathing cycle and take a deep breath through his nose. It didn’t sound that well because all the snot that had formed while he was crying, but he _was_ slowly calming down.

“Let’s first calm down, then talk.” Chan said softly, it seemed he had calmed down as well. “Take your time.”

Jisung nodded and squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears. He focused on his breathing and felt Felix’s hand softly massage his shoulder too, it helped. 

When he thought he could talk without running out of oxygen, he continued what he wanted to say.

“I’m not upset with you, Chan. No one is.” He looked at their friend and heard affirmations come from the rest. “I was crying so much because I’m glad you’re back, because I was mad that JYP labs manipulated and brainwashed and used you.”

Chan’s expression softened as he smiled a little. “You’re not mad that I was being so stubborn? Even before I was brainwashed? I was only drugged on Monday before we met up.” He looked at everyone, and his gaze lingered a little at where Seungmin sat with Hyunjin in his arms. The younger shook his head.

“No. It was… such a messy situation. I get how you acted, JYP labs is really sly.” He sighed. “And it wasn’t like _I_ wasn’t being stubborn either, so everything’s good.” He smiled and Chan hugged him. It made Jisung feel warm, seeing _all_ his friends together again, no tension.

Then Chan turned to him again and Jisung’s breath hitched a little when he crouched in front of him.

“And you? You’re not mad that I… that I kissed you that Sunday and I made you defend me against the rest even though I was wrong?” Chan looked so apologetic that Jisung wanted to cry again. 

“No I’m not mad. You just wanted to protect me, and yourself, and prevent us from being reckless.” Jisung shook his head and grabbed Chan’s hands. “And on Wednesday you made up for it when you could. You did your best Chan, I’m sure you had super valid reasons for everything you did.”

Chan looked down and was quiet for a moment before Seungmin spoke up.

“About that… Can we ask some questions?” He hesitantly asked. “I’m actually kind of curious about some things. Or— are you tired from everything? From all the questions?”

Chan looked up again and at his friends and thought for a moment. “I think you guys deserve answers. I want to get it all out too, and I did that partially at the questioning, but that’s different, I want to explain to you guys what I thought and I hope you will understand.”

Everyone nodded and some reached out to give their oldest friend some encouraging pats and words. Jisung squeezed his hands.

“But let’s do that somewhere more comfortable?” Chan suggested and stood up, not letting go of Jisung’s hands. “I don’t think Hyunjin or I are needed for the investigation for the short remainder of today.”

The rest agreed and they headed to Chan’s home, which wasn’t as far from the hospital as Changbin’s house, so Minho drove with Chan, Jisung, Seungmin and Hyunjin, while the rest walked. For the short drive Chan hugged Jisung tightly and softly caressed a hand over his arm. It was a silent drive because everyone was tired, but it was a way better tired than the previous days. 

  
  


At Chan’s, everyone huddled on the couch, on chairs and around, with Chan in the middle. He got a little embarrassed at all the attention, and Jisung felt a smile tug at his lips to see the familiar Chan back. 

“Well… Ask away, I guess. This time my house _isn’t_ bugged.” Their friend chuckled dryly. “The government especially went to all our houses to check.”

“So you were bugged that Wednesday?” Seungmin asked. “Like Hyunjin was bugged or was your house bugged?”

“My house— well, only the living room slash kitchen was bugged.” Chan explained. “After, uhm, Jisung pulled me out of my brainwashed state, I tried to destroy the flasks and equipment at the lab— uhm, I didn't really have a plan so of course I didn't succeed, _and_ I didn't know how much of it they had.

Anyway— after that they upped the doses they would give to their subjects and ordered portable devices to bug people."

_Right, we heard about the destroying. So that's where he got the cuts and bruises from._ Everyone listened intently to his story, and Jisung felt his anger for the lab return. He knew that wasn't of any use because there was already enough evidence against them, but he just felt like Chan deserved better. He also maybe felt a little bad about having caused the lab to take heavier precautions. 

"You're not blaming yourself for anything, right Sungie?" Chan grabbed his hand as if he read his mind. "Because you pulled me out of it, I could vaguely warn you and you noticed there was something wrong. In the end I think it was good that it happened, and you couldn't predict that I would be dumb and give myself away like that." 

"Please stop invalidating yourself, Chan." Jisung pleaded. "Let us judge whether it was stupid in hindsight or not. And even if it was, it happened, and things still turned out fine." 

Chan let out a breathy laugh. "You're right. I'll try to tell you guys more from now on, even if people forbid me." 

"You were actually forbidden from talking to us?" Felix asked bewilderedly. 

"Well, they just said to talk as little about work as possible, especially after the explosion, and if people asked questions to deny everything, 'obviously', and else direct them to higher people." Chan explained. "And, uhm, they never were really _nice_ to me, not mean either, but when I came to them with the fact that my friends from out of town were coming here, they were already acting meaner and saying I should be careful you guys don’t get brainwashed by the theorists, and they told me you guys _could not_ spread any rumors out of town. And when I then came with the contaminated water just after you guys came back, they started freaking out and saying I was working with the theorists, and they were after you guys too and— yeah, it became… less nice."

Jisung was unconsciously squeezing Chan's hand in anger as he heard others voice their exasperation. He had already been angry that the theorists were kind of harassing Chan, but now it turned out it also came from his work. 

It was silent for a moment as everyone let the info sink in, maybe they were too tired to think of more questions, although— Jisung still had one, but was he brave enough to ask? 

“And…” Seungmin already began before Jisung could decide. “How did it go with Hyunjin? Was it a coincidence that his plumbing broke? How did you… help them get him?” Seungmin frowned, but it didn’t seem like he blamed Chan, it just looked like he didn’t like thinking back to it, because he held Hyunjin tighter. “I— I of course understand that you were forced and brainwashed…”

Despite what the younger said, Chan still looked down with a guilty look and Jisung massaged his hands in encouragement.

“Right…” Chan began. “I— they knew you two were investigating us and they wanted to do something against it, but I don’t know if they caused the broken plumbing, I think that was just an unfortunate coincidence. 

But they asked me who would be easier to get and I told them Hyunjin was a bit naive but that you were hard to fool— and I really hoped that you two wouldn’t be fooled because I knew you were suspicious and careful, but… I guess they were too smart again. I didn’t know what the plumbers would do.” He looked up at the couple with an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry.”

Hyunjin managed a small smile. “It’s okay. You were forced, and I’m glad you said to take me first so that Seungmin could save us all.” He chuckled but Seungmin shook his head in his neck. “It’s okay, Minnie. You did well.” He kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head and cupped Seungmin’s cheek to make him look at him as he gave him a smile. Seungmin couldn’t help but smile back after which they went back to just holding each other tightly. It made Jisung feel warm again.

"Anyone else have any further questions right now?" Chan asked and everyone looked around. _Right._ Jisung was pulled out of the warm feelings and felt his nerves resurface.

He bit his lip and opened his mouth a few times, but no sound came out. He wanted to ask about the kiss again, but he didn’t know if Chan was sick of talking about that, or if he didn't want to talk in front of everyone or if he somehow already answered subtly and Jisung just didn't get it—

"I think Jisung still wants to ask something." Minho announced and Jisung got a bit of a deja vu. 

Chan looked at him with a curious but also a tiny bit worried look. Jisung looked away and fidgeted with his hands. 

"Uhm… Maybe it’s— it’s not really— uhm, I was just curious, uhm, about— about, uhm…" Jisung felt his cheeks get warm as he shortly looked at the other. "About why you kissed me that Sunday." He whispered.

“Oh.” He heard Chan say and his heart dropped.

“I get it if you don’t want to talk about it or if you just want to forget it or—”

“Jisung.” Chan stopped him and took his hands in his own. Their eyes locked and Jisung couldn’t look away. “I’m glad you asked because I want to explain, and you deserve that. Especially after I probably confused and hurt you with it.”

Jisung gulped and nodded as he listened, he didn’t know what to say. He heard his friends hold their breaths like he did.

“We… We were just having a great time together— well, I thought so at least— and then my coworker called, Heelchud. He was kind of mean lately so I was annoyed, and then they began asking questions about you because they saw you picking me up at work.” Chan explained, mindlessly massaging Jisung’s hands. It relaxed Jisung and it felt like he was the only one in the room with Chan. He remembered Chan being anxious when he went to pick him up at work.

“They wanted to know if you came to question me again or if I had failed to mention if I had a boyfriend or something, and I tried to explain you were just there to relax and hang out with me.” Chan continued and sighed. “Then they also began about that they saw some guy with long hair and someone else spy on the lab, so they said they didn’t believe me, and they always read my texts so they wanted me to install the bugging equipment on Wednesday.” He frowned and squeezed Jisung’s hands in frustration. “I refused of course and I was really done with them, so I threatened that I would quit if they dared to hurt or spy on my friends.” He sighed again, his hands relaxing. “But then Heelchud got our boss on the phone. He said Heelchud was just saying stuff and while they wanted to stop any rumors, they would never spy on people and I had nothing to worry about. It was obviously a lie, but I believed him…” Chan frowned and bit his lip for a second before he continued. 

“He then said that they would take drastic measures if they found out people were spying on them, though, and he forbade me from hanging out with friends who wanted to question me after Wednesday, and he threatened you too, Jisung, and I just got scared. I thought I might be able to fix things on my own, but I— I just didn’t know what they were doing until I went to work on Monday…” 

A deep sigh escaped Chan’s lips and it was silent for a moment. Jisung now massaged Chan’s hands to try to calm him down and encourage him to continue. He couldn’t imagine how stressful things were for Chan then.

“Anyway, I’m not really answering your question.” Chan chuckled and when his eyes found Jisung, the latter got lost. “I was afraid for you guys and I wasn’t really thinking clearly, so I just hurried you out… but I didn’t want you to think I _wanted_ you out, or that I hate you guys because I was forbidden from seeing you.” He paused for a second to just look into Jisung’s eyes, making Jisung fall deeper. “And… I guess I was just really desperate to get that across, and I guess the feelings from before the phone call lingered, so…” Chan averted his gaze for a short moment, and something shone in his eyes when they returned to lock with Jisung’s. “So I kissed you.”

Jisung couldn’t bring anything out, he was just staring at the other, the implications of what he said sinking in. 

“I’m sorry—”

Chan was cut off by Jisung mindlessly surging forward and pressing their lips together. Chan tensed for a second, but relaxed soon and let go of Jisung’s hands to gently cup his cheeks. When they separated, Chan gave him a cutely confused and surprised look.

“You…?” He began.

“No, I’m not mad. Yes, I like you!” Jisung tackle-hugged the other tightly and felt Chan do the same back. “I have for a while.”

“Me too… for the longest time.” Chan chuckled and kissed the top of his head as he stroked a hand over his back. 

They laid like that for a while, Jisung almost falling asleep as he comfortably snuggled Chan, and judging from Chan’s faltering movements, he was too. 

“I don’t think anyone has any more questions.” Minho broke the silence and smiled as he looked around to see that everyone was sleepy. “It’s pretty late, and we all deserve a good night's sleep, now that we finally can.”

Jisung lazily nodded along with his friends, but he didn’t want to get up. Things were fine now, yes, but he still didn’t want to go home and be alone. He wanted to stay with Chan.

“Hmm… Minnie, carry me home… and stay with me…” Hyunjin mumbled tiredly as he practically hung on his boyfriend, and Seungmin smiled fondly.

“Gladly.” He said and kissed Hyunjin’s cheek while smiling. “Anything you want. Anything for you.”

Jisung felt warm seeing his friends like that and involuntarily looked up at Chan, who looked back and softly smiled. 

"If anyone wants to stay here, they're welcome." He announced and looked up at the rest too. 

"Nah, we'll be fine." Changbin waved off and pulled himself closer to Minho. "If anyone wants a ride, Minho's driving." 

Minho acted offended, but Jisung knew he would do it gladly. 

"We can manage walking, right Hyunjin?" Seungmin asked and his boyfriend nodded. 

"I'd like to stay here if that's okay." Jisung yawned and nuzzled closer to Chan. 

"Of course." 

"Well, if everyone is having a sleepover, shall we have one too, Lixie?" Jeongin suggested and linked his arms with Felix when he nodded. "We'll take the Minho-taxi." 

"Oh a taxi? Does that mean you'll pay?" Minho winked teasingly. 

"The _free_ Minho-taxi." Jeongin corrected himself. 

"Fine. Let's go." 

Their friends waved them goodbye, taking their sweet time to stretch their time together, but eventually they left. 

"Oof, I'm beat." Jisung sighed. 

"Me too…" Chan groaned and flinched a bit, grabbing at his head. 

"Wow, are you okay?" Jisung perked up, suddenly more awake. 

"Yeah, I am." Chan smiled as Jisung caressed a hand over his head. "Just a little headache, but it's fine." 

"Yeah? Tell me if it's not, okay?" Jisung let his hand fall to Chan's shoulder and gently massaged it. "The doctor said you might still have some lingering effects for a while." 

The older nodded and squeezed the hand on his shoulder. "I will. Let's go to bed, okay?— uhm," He stopped himself for a second and Jisung almost got a heart attack. "do you want to sleep with me in my bed..?" 

"Ah—" Jisung let out a surprised laugh. "Of course I do! Who do you think I am?" 

Chan chuckled too. "Sorry, I think my brain isn't working optimally yet." He stood up and led Jisung to the bedroom by the hand. 

  
  


Jisung climbed on top of Chan when they reached his bed, and enveloped him in a hug. They both sighed in content as they laid down. 

"Can I lie like this?" Jisung asked, humming when Chan carded a hand through his hair. 

"Of course. You're light as a feather anyway." Chan lazily smiled. 

"Is your headache better?" Jisung propped his chin up on the other's chest. 

"Yeah, a bit. I think I'll be able to sleep." 

Jisung nodded and his eyes fell shut a few times, but he couldn't fall asleep yet, there was one thing left to do. 

"Good night kiss?" He asked, eyes half closed and puckering his lips. 

"You're so cute, Sungie." Chan chuckled and pulled him closer to connect their lips. 

Chan's lips were so soft and plump, Jisung felt he could fall asleep kissing them. And if he did, that was only for Chan to see and giggle at. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! We got answers! The next chapter is a relatively short wrapup chapter and will be posted tomorrow!! I hope you guys liked it up until now,, this is my first time writing mystery so I hope it's a bit satisfying at least?


	11. They all had a lot of fun and chaos to catch up on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If you'd have put a little more force into it, Jisung, you could've also done this." Minho raised an eyebrow at his friend before leaning towards his boyfriend and kissing and licking away some glaze from the corners of his mouth. Changbin's face flushed red again. 
> 
> Jisung gasped as Jeongin put a hand in front of his own eyes. "Unfair! Binnie is clumsy and has a small mouth, and Chan has a big appetite." He pouted and Chan rolled his eyes, but his ears were bright red. 
> 
> “You can also just ask for kisses.” Chan mumbled, dodging Jisung who was trying to shove cake on his cheeks.
> 
> “What’s the fun in that, though?” Jisung retorted and continued his mission.
> 
> Meanwhile, Hyunjin and Seungmin were in their own world, Seungmin also trying to feed his boyfriend while Hyunjin just wanted to give him kisses all over his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter short wrapup! It's a lighter and happy chapter!

“Here it comes, guys!” Minho announced as he and Felix exited the kitchen with a big platter and approached the makeshift extra large table the rest, including the theorists, were sitting at. They— especially Minho— were covered in flour and cake batter. “Felix’s infamous brownie cake!”

Everyone cheered as Felix put down the big cake between everyone’s drinks. They were celebrating the victory against JYP labs. It had taken a while, and in the meantime Felix had begun working at Minho’s family’s cafe, but now it was finally definite. Now everything was finally right. Chan and Hyunjin had recovered from being brainwashed, the government had found something against the contaminated water, which turned out to be the consequence of that explosion in the lab, but when the lab had found out that some of their early-in-the-process brainwash substance had ended up in the sewers and plumbing of houses, they didn’t care to fix the damage and used it as their way of testing it on citizens. Apparently JYP labs had been secretly developing something with which they wanted to manipulate people, and that explosion had both been a blessing and a curse for them. And apparently after they had developed that substance further, they used the people affected by the contaminated water to get more test subjects for their more developed versions. It was creepy, but those bastards were now locked up, which was worth celebrating.

“And because it is a double extra special occasion…” Minho grinned as he hid something behind his back and paused for extra effect. “I made two extra cupcakes!— With Felix’s help, of course.” He announced and pulled out two cupcakes, each with a candle and decorated with a glaze heart. 

“Happy first anniversary, Bin.” He kissed his boyfriend shortly as he placed down the two cupcakes and chuckled. “I hope they're at least a bit edible, I worked hard on them.”

“Well, I’m sure they’re better than if _I_ would make them.” Changbin chuckled too and inspected the cupcakes with a smile. “But you didn’t have to Min! I— I didn’t prepare anything!”

Minho just smiled and shrugged. “This was kind of an impromptu thing, so it’s fine, and you already treated me a little this morning.” He sat down next to his boyfriend and massaged his thigh a little. “Although, I think you know what you can do to pay me back.” He winked and Changbin’s face immediately flushed. 

“Gross!” Hyunjin exclaimed. “But, _before_ the romantic atmosphere got ruined, I was reminded of something.” He turned to Seungmin next to him. “We still haven’t gone on that date we promised when Lia came yelling at us!”

Seungmin gasped and laughed as Lia proudly told her friends she ‘did that’. “You’re right! Wow, I had totally forgotten after everything that happened…”

“Will you even have time for me now that you’re all busy planning with Changbin and Jisung, and Chan..?” Hyunjin pouted dramatically and looked at Chan in question at the end of his sentence.

Chan perked up at the attention and rubbed his neck a bit. “Well, if Jisung and Changbin would accept me to work with them…”

“Of course!” The two simultaneously yelled. “You would be the perfect addition to our team, Channie!” Jisung continued and shook the other’s arm. “With you we’ll definitely make it!” 

He was basically jumping on his chair as Chan waved it off, ears red from embarrassment, and he also told about a gig he saw that was perfect for them and Seungmin. 

"Yeah, it's going to be fun." Seungmin laughed and turned to Hyunjin again. "But I'll always have time for you, don't worry." 

They giggled at their cheesiness before everyone remembered the cake that was right in front of them and dug in, but not before lighting the candles on the cupcakes first and singing happy birthday to Changbin and Minho's relationship, everyone laughing at everyone singing different lyrics. Then Minho very romantically stuffed Changbin's mouth with cupcake and inspired Jisung to do the same with Chan, but with the brownie cake and a little more gently. Jisung was cooing at the other, telling him he was cute while Chan sputtered protests and tried to feed him back.

"If you'd have put a little more force into it, Jisung, you could've also done this." Minho raised an eyebrow at his friend before leaning towards his boyfriend and kissing and licking away some glaze from the corners of his mouth. Changbin's face flushed red again. 

Jisung gasped as Jeongin put a hand in front of his own eyes. "Unfair! Binnie is clumsy and has a small mouth, and Chan has a big appetite." He pouted and Chan rolled his eyes, but his ears were bright red. 

“You can also just _ask_ for kisses.” Chan mumbled, dodging Jisung who was trying to shove cake on his cheeks.

“What’s the fun in that, though?” Jisung retorted and continued his mission.

Meanwhile, Hyunjin and Seungmin were in their own world, Seungmin also trying to feed his boyfriend while Hyunjin just wanted to give him kisses all over his face.

“Is it safe to look again?” Jeongin asked, still obscuring his eyes, but Felix was too busy laughing to answer.

“Uhm… I don’t think so.” Yeji answered, eyeing the three couples. “Are you guys always like this?”

“Well, this is the first year they’re together, but it’s always chaos with the eight of us.” Jeongin explained, leaning on the arm which was in front of his eyes. 

“Ah, that sounds familiar.” Yeji nodded and eyed her friends, causing both protests and agreements. 

“That’s right! I’m still curious about something, Chan— Chan— Stop doing whatever you’re doing and listen!” Chaeryeong tried to get Chan’s attention.

“Sorry—” He apologized and squeaked when Jisung succeeded in shoving cake in his face. “Jisung, _please_.” He did his best to give a stern look, but couldn’t help but laugh at Jisung’s big smile.

“You can talk with Chaeryeong while I clean my mess up.” The younger grinned and started doing what Minho had done to Changbin earlier while Minho encouraged him in the background.

“O-okay.” Chan’s whole face was now bright red as he turned to Chaeryeong, who was laughing at his face. “What were you curious about?”

It took a second before she stopped laughing, but then she put on a serious face. “We’ve now gotten almost all the answers to what happened, but I’m still curious about what happened when we asked you to analyze the water.”

The rest of their friends, who were yelling or talking or doing other things in the meantime, now got quiet and curiously focused on Chan, which didn’t help for the redness of his face. Jisung quickly finished up his job too.

“Uhm— right, about that,” He began. “I don’t have any equipment for that at home, so at work I asked if I could do it, because it would help against the accusations, so they acted happy and said they’ll do that while I do my job. And I guess they faked the results, or they already thought ahead or something, because they showed me a really valid result, and I could confirm that were indeed the things you would see with those particular components.” Chan sighed. “I should’ve known that it was weird that they didn’t let me do it, but I was honestly not excited to do the tedious job of figuring out the components and I just wanted the questions to stop, so I was all too glad that they told me to ignore and block you guys if you didn’t believe us…” He looked down with that damned guilty look that they thought he didn’t have to show anymore now. 

“Right, we never really apologized for being so obnoxious and pushy about it…” Yuna rubbed her nape in embarrassment. “Sorry, Chan.”

“Yeah, it kinda backfired, I think.” Ryujin agreed. “But! Everything is fine now, we’ve all learned some things, I think.”

“Yeah.” Chan nodded and gave a smile. “I’m not mad at you guys, though, it’s all good.”

“I sure don’t hope something like this will happen again, though.” Lia groaned and slumped in her chair. “I mean, I have no clue what we’ll do now that this is over, but I _am_ glad that it is over.”

“Can you imagine? Strayville having _two_ evil companies choose it as their town to experiment on?”

Everyone laughed at that and they talked about everything and nothing until it was dark and Minho was reminded of that he still had to clean up, and he demanded that everyone helped him. He wanted to stay with his friends for as long as he could, because from now, they would all be getting more and more busy with looking at what they would do after summer was over.

Seungmin, Jisung, Chan and Changbin would be busy trying to launch their career as songwriters and singer, and Hyunjin was thinking about maybe continuing with learning but still kept his eye out for jobs that would excite him. Minho was lucky that Jeongin and Felix would stay in town now that Felix worked with him in the cafe and Jeongin would start as a teacher in the local kindergarten after summer. And the rest could probably come and visit more often than before, but still, Minho wanted to make the most of their leftover time together. 

They all had a lot of fun and chaos to catch up on with the eight of them, and they would probably invite some of the girls over too, so Minho was sure that the memories they would make this summer weren’t already all made, definitely not. Seungmin and Hyunjin would probably go _all out_ for each other in planning their long overdue date, and Jisung and Chan’s relationship had only just begun. He looked forward to making many more memories in the future too, but that would all come later. Minho wasn’t that fond of looking far ahead, he rather just enjoyed the moment he was in if he could afford that. Like right now, he just enjoyed hugging all his friends goodbye, seeing Hyunjin and Seungmin head home together, and yelling at everyone to come visit the cafe whenever they could, even though they had already planned to come together many times.

“If I don’t die of my allergy, I’ll come as often as I can!” Jisung yelled back.

“Even if you die, you have to come!” Minho laughed when Chan shot him a look that was meant to be angry, but leaned more towards having digestion problems because he was trying not to laugh. 

“One day you’re going to kill us all.” Changbin breathed with a smile as their friends yelled at them until they were out of earshot. 

“I think that’ll be a joint effort of us all.” Minho shot back and pulled Changbin with him. “But right now it’s time for _you_ to give me my first anniversary gift.”

  
  


_The End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was it!! I appreciate all the comments and kudos so please tell me what you thought !!  
> Thank you for reading <3 and happy holidays and have a lovely 2021!

**Author's Note:**

> If you want, you can find me on [Tumblr](https://kokoskwark.tumblr.com)  
> And on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/kokoskwark?s=09)


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